Boots on the Ground: A First-Hand Account of Conducting Psychological Research in Combat

Authors

Peter D. Harms, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Paul B. Lester, Research Facilitation Laboratory, Army Analytics Group, Monterey, CAFollow

Date of this Version

1-2012

Document Type

Article

Citation

Published by the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology; online at http://www.siop.org/tip/jan12/03harms.aspx

Posted Jan. 12, 2012.

Comments

U.S. government work.

Abstract

At the height of the surge in Iraq, Captain Paul Lester, an Army research psychologist, embedded himself with the 2nd Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment in order to study leadership and psychological resilience in combat. Few researchers are ever presented with the opportunities and responsibilities inherent for a psychologist in this situation or with the decisions he faced when agreeing to take on this mission. In his own words, Captain Lester explains the nature of this mission, what makes research in this context so unique, and what lessons he learned.