Lum Helps Willamette Professor with Psychology Research

By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director

SALEM, Ore. -- Willamette University volleyball player Taylor Lum from Honolulu, Hawaii (MH/OH, Maryknoll HS), a rising senior, is spending her summer in Salem rather than back on Oahu with her family and friends. Instead, she focusing on both volleyball and her major.

She has already helped coach at the Willamette Volleyball Camps, which were held at the Sparks Center from June 20 through June 25. She also is providing private volleyball lessons and clinics in Salem along with teammate Riley Fawcett (Sr., OH, Normandy Park, WA/John F. Kennedy HS).

Lum's biggest focus for the summer, however, is working on research with Dr. Melissa Witkow, the Psychology Department chair and associate professor of psychology at Willamette University. Witkow, Lum, and several other students are completing research into middle school and high school students and how they relate to each other and to their friends.

The research actually began several years ago, when Witkow conducted a study involving a group  of middle school students who were sixth graders in the Salem-Keizer School District. They were asked about their attitudes and interactions with each other and with other students.

During the Spring 2016 semester Lum, a psychology major, and other Willamette students administered a follow-up questionnaire to most of the same students, who are now at McNary High School in Keizer, Oregon. Lum is currently compiling the data to move the project closer to completion.

It seems like gathering the data on a questionnaire would be an easy process, but it doesn't always go as smoothly as planned.

"It was interesting," Lum said. "Some students filled out the whole questionnaire. Some did not. Some didn't show up or had left the school district."

Some of the topics included in the questionnaire led the students say how they respond to pop culture.

"We looked at their celebrity crushes," Lum said, noting that many had crushes on Nicki Minaj and Justin Bieber.

According to Lum, the research is designed to find out if the students' attitudes have changed over time or are the same. Do they interact differently now than they did as sixth graders? How are factors such as gender, ethnicity and age involved in the process? Witkow plans to gather a third set of data as the former middle school students get closer to their high school graduation.

For Lum, it's rewarding to work on a research project that may reveal quite a bit about friendships and interactions between a group of students as they advance through middle school and high school. It's also been a great way for Lum to get hands-on experience in the field of psychology.

This is the first year that Lum has remained in Salem for the summer. Following her freshman and sophomore years she returned to Hawaii.

"It's different. I miss home, but this is a great experience for me," she said. "I just like exploring and this is a new adventure for me at this time.

"If I was back at home, I would probably find a job, but I would also be on the beach everyday," Lum said.

The change of location also keeps her focused on her efforts as a researcher in psychology and a teacher of volleyball skills.

"I'm really curious about our findings," Lum said. "It should be very interesting to see how they (the students) have changed."

NOTE:  Summer in Salem is a series of articles about Willamette University student-athletes who are staying in Salem or nearby communities this summer.