Hours per Week for Research

[premd]

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I am planning to do research in one of my professor's labs sometime soon. However, I have a few questions:

How much time should I set aside for research?

Do people usually come in the lab whenever they choose, or do they have a set time that they are supposed to be in the lab like from 2 pm to 5 pm?

Would it be OK if I was taking a shift with my school's EMS while in the lab?

Are professors in the lab on weekends also?

 

[Captain Fantastic]

Depends on the professor and the project. You need to ask these questions of the person you want to work under. There's no way to generalize it.

 

[Em1]

When I started out I came in at specific times b/c I was learning things from a grad student and had to come in when she was available to do stuff.

Now I come whenever I want- I just have certain things I need to get done. However, some experiments require you to be there for several hours at a time, and others require that you do things several days in a row, which I usually try to plan so I'm not in on a weekend.

The only specific times I have to be there now are for meetings.

 

[bachi]

its always up to your reasearch advisor. ask. my RA said as long as i get my stuff done. but i had a friend whose RA made sure his students come in at 9a sharp til 5pm. i'm off weekends.

 

[63768]

i'd put a lot of time aside for it in the beginning and feel out how much time is really necessary as you go along.

 

[big_smiles]

i'd put a lot of time aside for it in the beginning and feel out how much time is really necessary as you go along.

I'm with you on this one. I usually am in the lab about 10 hours a week during semesters, but some students even in the same lab, stay longer or leave earlier. It depends on your advisor and what your project entails. Suspect more time in the beginning, because you are learning the project and techniques (same goes before presentations and such, when you want to gather as much preliminary data as you can by a certain date).