DIY Research

[Psychorbust]

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I am an undergrad Premed student looking for unique research opportunities, and a friend and I are considering pursuing a research project independent of faculty in the area of psychology. As an aspiring psychiatrist, how would this reflect, and how viable a project is this?

 

[Naijaba]

Hi Psychorbust,

We're going to need a little bit more information about your project. From my experience, it is difficult to get the wheels turning on a research project without the support of a faculty mentor. Where will you get your subjects? How will you compensate them? Do you know the necessary regulatory steps to work with human subjects?

From my experience with education research it helps to have an authority who knows the latest journal articles from the field. After you familiarize yourself with current scientific endeavors in psychology, then you can begin to formulate questions whose resolution are publishable.

 

[Psychorbust]

Having spoken to my academic advisor regarding the subject matter, I have been assured of the relevance and use of the study. Although funding is a matter of potential trouble, should worse come to worst, the research could be privately funded. The main trouble on our minds is the issue of publishing. How difficult is it to get published as an undergrad student? Obviously, we aren't aiming to be published in Nature, but I would rather not be published in Popular Science. What are my odds? Any advice?

 

[JonSwan]

I suspect you may be getting yourself into more trouble than it's worth. Working with human subjects means you will have to get approved by an IRB which is often a challenge, even for faculty members and graduate students. If you're coming in with little to no funding, little to no faculty oversight and don't have any proven work behind you... wow, good luck with that. It doesn't matter how great your idea is or whether or not it would make a good paper - the fact of the matter is it's going to be one heck of an ordeal to even get an independent study conducted by an undergrad without faculty support up and running.

If you really think you have a great idea and just don't have any faculty support in pursuing it, maybe you could consider a Masters and locate a PI who would be willing to work with you.

 

[Psychorbust]

The prospect of an IRB is slightly terrifying. Are there any other major roadblocks besides that and funding that I should be looking out for?

 

[GellaBella]

how long do you have to complete this project?

Anything less than probably 2 years (maybe 1 and a half if you are extremely lucky) will probably not pan out into a publication.

There are so many hurdles in research. I'm not saying it can't be done - I don't know psychology journals and their criteria for publication-, but it will be difficult. Do it for the experience not for the publication.

 

[TexasPrincess]

Tips: There are funding options through the NSF for anyone do to research. I saw an ad in one of the magazines about it.

Find someone in the field who has similar interests that you can connect with on this topic. You can be a first author, and they can be last. Most people in academia want to help out others and can give you real advice.

Now that I am out in the real world, I have also thought about doing independent research. I suggest doing a search to make sure your research hasn't already been done before you start!

Good luck!

 

[afugazzi]

I believe you will need a faculty advisor to get IRB approval (could be wrong). That just means you need to find a professor willing to be called that. They don't need to do anything.

 

[ahmcadams]

Unfortunately, this is never going to get off the ground without faculty support. The IRB would never approve of two independent undergrads performing human subject research. Even with faculty support, IRB approval can drag on for months. Your best bet is to join another already established project - preferably one where IRB approval is pending or already received. Even a basic science protocol done without faculty support wouldn't carry the type of credibility necessary for journal submission or legitimate publication of any sort.

 

[apumic]

Having spoken to my academic advisor regarding the subject matter, I have been assured of the relevance and use of the study. Although funding is a matter of potential trouble, should worse come to worst, the research could be privately funded. The main trouble on our minds is the issue of publishing. How difficult is it to get published as an undergrad student? Obviously, we aren't aiming to be published in Nature, but I would rather not be published in Popular Science. What are my odds? Any advice?

Without a faculty mentor, you are very unlikely to get this off the ground as a UG. I didn't really see any mention of your proposed topic, so it's hard to say what barriers you'll run into.

If human subjects are being used (esp. if a protected pop. is critical), the IRB will destroy you (it's a matter of liability; even with a faculty mentor, it is extremely difficult to get UG projects past an IRB since if you make a mistake, you're a student and the school takes responsibility as they are responsible for your training and close supervision, whereas at least they can fire faculty on the spot and blame the faculty member's poor judgment -- you can't really blame a student).

As for funding, in psych you need funding. If you have a faculty mentor and a viable project as well as a good GPA and PsiChi membership, PsiChi may offer you a sizable chunk of change ($1500-3000) to help w/ your project. If these are human subjects and you lack the background to write scientifically-valid assessment tools (as a UG, you certainly lack this), you're going to have to find a qualified psychologist to obtain those tools (and pay for them -- the price is often quite high per administration).

Finally, there is the issue of publications and presentations. Without a faculty mentor, no one is going to take you seriously. You're a UG. You lack a degree. You probably lack prior pubs and so have no voice in the scientific community. You simply need those things to succeed.

Basically, for your first major project, you need to be part of a lab. Once you have a few pubs under your belt and a BS/BA, we can talk about true independent projects (i.e., on your own/without a mentor), but until then you really don't have the tools to set out on your own yet.

 

[Esio Trot]

No matter what interests you, you can usually find a mentor whose research interests dovetail nicely with yours. Have you reviewed your school's website for information about areas of psychology research? You could also try to find a summer program that would allow you to join a project in an area which interests you.

Also, from what I've witnessed, good undergraduate research is dependent upon having a good support system of faculty and graduate students in your area willing to answer questions and help you in the process. It's awesome that you want to do research, but realize that a project is 10X as time-consuming and emotionally draining as you originally believe, especially a project that you are personally leading.