Does a non-science Fulbright research project count as research?

[DSM_302.0]

What's up team,

I'm looking through MSAR data for some schools I want to apply to, such as UCSF. The percentage of accepted students who have 'research' experience is 94%.

I'm curious how you think this is interpreted. Personally I'm hoping for a looser interpretation. I received a Fulbright Research grant which sent me to the Middle East for a year and a half. While there, I did a lot of what anthropologists would call ethnographic research, which is a heady academic term for doing interviews. My research was aimed at figuring out the current refugee crisis situation, and my product was a short documentary film outlining my findings in their own words. I didn't publish in any academic research journals or anything like that.

Do you think this will count as research on my application? Am especially interested in hearing from any adcom members who so lovingly support us on this thread.

I've done some sleuthing around SDN and I've seen replies like: "I've asked and seen this asked, the consensus is generally yes, it counts. Just be able to explain what you did in the context of scientific method. Ie be able to explain hypothesis, methods, analysis, etc."

I would say the anthropological method of interviewing and experiencing and reading related books and whatnot is pretty far afield from the scientific method. That said, I did design a project and loosely stick to it.

Sincerely,
Me

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[AnatomyGrey12]

Yes. Research experience is research experience.

 

[B-Lymphocyte]

I would tend to agree with Anatomy Grey. I suppose MD/PhD programs might want something more science based, but if we are just talking about medical school admission, I don't think it matters.

 

[Fancy_Feast]

What's up team,

I'm looking through MSAR data for some schools I want to apply to, such as UCSF. The percentage of accepted students who have 'research' experience is 94%.

I'm curious how you think this is interpreted. Personally I'm hoping for a looser interpretation. I received a Fulbright Research grant which sent me to the Middle East for a year and a half. While there, I did a lot of what anthropologists would call ethnographic research, which is a heady academic term for doing interviews. My research was aimed at figuring out the current refugee crisis situation, and my product was a short documentary film outlining my findings in their own words. I didn't publish in any academic research journals or anything like that.

Do you think this will count as research on my application? Am especially interested in hearing from any adcom members who so lovingly support us on this thread.

I've done some sleuthing around SDN and I've seen replies like: "I've asked and seen this asked, the consensus is generally yes, it counts. Just be able to explain what you did in the context of scientific method. Ie be able to explain hypothesis, methods, analysis, etc."

I would say the anthropological method of interviewing and experiencing and reading related books and whatnot is pretty far afield from the scientific method. That said, I did design a project and loosely stick to it.

Sincerely,
Me

My research was in archaeology and environmental science. All of my interviewers have been really interested to hear about it! I think it will make you memorable

 

[DSM_302.0]

My research was in archaeology and environmental science. All of my interviewers have been really interested to hear about it! I think it will make you memorable

Holy cow, thank you for jogging my memory. I did archaeology research for a summer in Turkey after my freshman year! At this point that was almost half my life ago, so thanks for the reminder!

Even though I didn't design the study or publish, I think it should count, right?

 

[moggat]

Although I totally agree what you did should be considered research, I think it's been mentioned here before that what adcoms are looking for is "hypothesis driven research". Or research which teaches you how to use the scientific method; unfortunately, I don't think ethnographic research qualifies unless you're trying to prove a hypothesis. The wise @Goro may be able to elaborate, since he has often discussed undergrad research.

 

[Fancy_Feast]

Holy cow, thank you for jogging my memory. I did archaeology research for a summer in Turkey after my freshman year! At this point that was almost half my life ago, so thanks for the reminder!

Even though I didn't design the study or publish, I think it should count, right?

It definitely sounds like a research experience! If you have other research experience and this one wasn't that memorable, you may want to think about lumping them together on AMCAS

 

[DSM_302.0]

It definitely sounds like a research experience! If you have other research experience and this one wasn't that memorable, you may want to think about lumping them together on AMCAS

It was memorable, it was just over a dozen years ago now #MDinMyThirties

 

[Fancy_Feast]

Although I totally agree what you did should be considered research, I think it's been mentioned here before that what adcoms are looking for is "hypothesis driven research". Or research which teaches you how to use the scientific method; unfortunately, I don't think ethnographic research qualifies unless you're trying to prove a hypothesis. The wise @Goro may be able to elaborate, since he has often discussed undergrad research.

Ethnographic research still uses hypotheses

 

[moggat]

Ethnographic research still uses hypotheses

Ah in that case, I think you're in the clear as long as you can describe it that way. All of my anthro classes were more case study based, but if you collected and evaluated data then you're fine.

 

[Goro]

I agree. But I think a Fulbright is nothing to be sneezed at, either. And descriptive data is still data.

Although I totally agree what you did should be considered research, I think it's been mentioned here before that what adcoms are looking for is "hypothesis driven research". Or research which teaches you how to use the scientific method; unfortunately, I don't think ethnographic research qualifies unless you're trying to prove a hypothesis. The wise @Goro may be able to elaborate, since he has often discussed undergrad research.

 

[DSM_302.0]

When I edited my original post, it strangely just re-posted, so now I've got 2 threads going on the same question.

This thread is great, and I got some more info from LizzyM on the same topic over here:
https://forums.studentdoctor.net/th...t-research-project-count-as-research.1242686/

Just making sure this is in here for any future folks who are searching these same keywords.

love