Psychology undergrad gets rare experience co-authoring research paper
Hayley Walton ’19
In spring 2018, Hayley Walton ’19 was a junior in Coe’s Advanced Experimental Psychology class. Two years later her work alongside Assistant Professor of Psychology Scout Kelly has culminated in publication.
Hayley and Scout are credited as co-authors on “‘I’ll work out tomorrow’: The Procrastination in Exercise Scale” in the Journal of Health Psychology. Their study created a scale to measure exercise procrastination and compare it with self-reported physical activity.
“In the field of psychology, it is pretty rare for an undergraduate student to co-author a peer-reviewed paper,” Scout said. “This reflects that students at Coe get a deeper, more interactive role in the research process with more responsibility and a more meaningful contribution to the work.”
An international business and psychology major with a minor in economics, Hayley was one of several students assisting Scout with initial research during their course. When Scout was awarded an internal grant to continue her research, she invited Hayley to work with her over the summer. Hayley was involved every step of the way — researching scale development, helping design and conduct the study and assisting with data analysis.
“I could tell from Hayley's work throughout our research process that she would be able to contribute meaningfully to a publication at the level of a co-author,” Scout said. So, during her senior year, Hayley’s work continued, writing the introduction and methodology sections of their research paper.
“Hayley and I had such a wonderful working relationship,” Scout said. “Our weekly meetings were characterized by great conversation and really helped keep the project on schedule. There's no way I would have gotten this paper published by now if I had tried to do it on my own.”
Hayley said Scout provided excellent guidance along the way so that she was challenged without being overwhelmed.
“Scout is an extremely gifted educator,” Hayley said. “While she is unbelievably intelligent, she has a drive to make sure others understand the material as well. I feel so honored that we were able to work together throughout my time at Coe.”
Hayley encouraged others to engage in research, citing the opportunity to build relationships with faculty and fellow Kohawks while gaining a deeper understanding of a new topic. Now working as a member of the Leadership Development Rotational Program at CRST, Hayley noted her research experience gave her a lot of confidence.
“Coe does not have a culture with limitations,” Hayley said. “Whether inside the classroom or out, you are never told you can't do something. Due to this, we never limited ourselves or our research. We continued to find success every step of the way.
“Coe has amazing faculty who invest in their students,” she added. “None of this would've been possible without the amazing faculty.”