To researchers is this the right thinking?

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zeldapsychology
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05 Jun 2010, 7:28 pm

As yall know I'm looking more at understanding how to do research and along that future track than my current AA and Bachelor. So I want to ask some more questions sorry. First off I'm not stupid I know getting into research is complicated and having my name on something will take YEARS! but Just working under someone sounds interesting and later on see my name attached to a study. Not sure if I'm on the right thinking path but I THINK research seems interesting there's female/male and different behaviors to look at studies that go on for years etc. Sure one might think OMG 10 year study! but no matter what everyone behaves differently so IMO it'd be fun. example: (looking at SUPER basic math) lets say with each study you crunch numbers and come up with 2+2=4 and another day of male research (different guys) you get 100+100=200. Sure I'm just using addition for the study but since the variables and solutions are always different my brain thinks OH! Wonder what numbers/the outcome will be today! So IMO as of now I feel (with that kind of attitude) studying might not be so boring. Sure as I said seeing my name on an article is years off but working under someone sounds neat. (Like working a movie HEY my name are in the credits I helped make the new Mario/Toy Story 3 etc. sure my name isn't Miyamoto/ or the movie director but HEY my name is there! (Even if it says with the help of Brandy!)



Orwell
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06 Jun 2010, 12:25 am

What exactly is your question?

The reality of research is that a lot of it will be very tedious... but it's worth it at the end of the day if you're working a project you really believe is important.


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Jumla
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06 Jun 2010, 1:43 am

I just wanted to add that in terms of doing research at an undergraduate level, there are journals out there specifically devoted to publishing undergraduate research pieces. If you google journal+undergraduate+research, you should get quite a few hits (I note there is a journal titled 'Journal of Undergraduate Psychological Research').



Mosaicofminds
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06 Jun 2010, 3:18 pm

That's great you're interested in research! I'm totally biased, but it's a lot of fun. :) Keep us posted as you get involved!

It does typically take 7 years to go through grad school, plus 2-3 years of doing research in undergrad. It helps you more to do a lot of small studies with your name on them rather than one big, 10 year study, though. (It's probably also more interesting!) The idea is that if you have a lot of published studies by the end of grad school, you're likely to continue publishing a lot of studies in the future, so you're particularly worth hiring.

There are a lot of boring things in research like running scripts and playing with Excel spreadsheets. There's also lots of frustrating things--like having to cancel all your appointments with participants one day because the button box they use to respond isn't working and you don't know how to fix it...or the program that presents stimuli to participants, which someone else wrote and you don't understand, stopped working. Or for that matter, having all your participants cancel on you themselves. But seeing the results and trying to figure out what they mean is worth it. Working with other people who also love research is worth it. Knowing that you came up with a really creative idea for a study, that people actually wanted to fund it, and that people actually want to participate, is really cool. And I wasn't expecting to enjoy the social aspect of working with human subjects, but getting to know the participants and their families can be fun, too.



zeldapsychology
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06 Jun 2010, 5:42 pm

Jumla wrote:
I just wanted to add that in terms of doing research at an undergraduate level, there are journals out there specifically devoted to publishing undergraduate research pieces. If you google journal+undergraduate+research, you should get quite a few hits (I note there is a journal titled 'Journal of Undergraduate Psychological Research').



Thanks! I googled it and found some research that interested me. My one dislike if before getting into YOUR research you list/describe past research of others a good 5-6+ people before getting into your OWN data. It's when I finally got to THERE data for the study that things seemed a little more fun. It was written just like a basic research paper nothing to fancy going that extra mile and doing some study ideas I have seem awesome! :-)