How to effectively know you've done good research?

[chemdoctor]

For those of you that have had interviews, I assume you've had some research experience?

What kind of stuff should you be able to directly articulate and elaborate on, to show that your research experience wasn't just sitting around doing nothing?

I've been doing research for the better part of a year, and honestly feel like I've learned a lot of lab skills. What type of stuff should I be able to talk about?

When people ask me about my research, I just tell them what its about, what I do, and what I'm looking for. I mean it DOES get a little redundant here and there.

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[Goro]

You should be able to explain what you were doing, what you found, and more importantly, why you were doing it.

 

[freedoctor17]

Well for my research heavy schools like Johns Hopkins and Lerner who asked for a lot of details on it, I started off by giving a quick background of what my lab revolved around. I then went into more detail on my specific project. I stated what we were trying to do, why we thought it would work, how we were doing it (very broadly), and then ended with the results we've gotten until now (have new projects building off the previous ones, so not totally done).

Edited for typos

 

[WedgeDawg]

Talk about the question you are trying to answer, why it's an important question, what you (or at this point most likely your lab) is doing to attempt to address it, how you did that, what you found, and what that may mean.

If you can do that (or at least part of it depending on where you are in the research process), you're good to go.

 

[RNtoMD87]

I just wonder how people find MEANGINGFUL research to do that aren't heavily involved in it. I mean like premeds with no science background other than school.

 

[RNtoMD87]

Your question confuses me as how you define meaningful to whom? Meaningful to the knowledge in the subject? Any research that adds to the literature would be meaningful
Meaningful to the premed ? I would ask What did the applicant get out of it? What did they learn? And most importantly, what does it say about the applicant’s characteristics?

All of the above. I mean I’ve been in nursing for 5 years total and I haven’t even KNOWN what would be good to research until recently, until you see a problem over and over that needs addressing. I mean you have to research literature to find gaps in knowledge, and to even know what areas to look for gaps takes time. How do premeds just say “hey I want to conduct research!” And pick something that would benefit the field and do it?

I guess I’m just wondering if I’m dumb that it takes me that long to identify areas that need to be researched.

 

[RNtoMD87]

Not your dumb in regard to thr difficuty in identifying areas. However, that cant be said for the “mechanics” of how premeds get involved in research. They arent going to start from identifying a gap or question. Rather they are going to join an existing lab with both the intellectual and process infrastructure in place and mostly work on previously identified issues. BTW, this is true of most students in most labs.

Wait, so they’re not doing their own research? I thought that was the whole point. Showing that you can identify a problem and addressing it. I have been working on a research problem addressing alarm fatigue on stepdown floors but it has been really difficult to organize. Definitely a marathon and not a sprint.

I guess I don’t understand how it works. I feel like I’m back at square one. My OMS friend did a study on his stepdown floor regarding nurse defibrillator training and outcomes and was published in a journal (American Journal of Critical Care). I’m hoping for something along those lines.

 

[Goro]

Wait, so they’re not doing their own research? I thought that was the whole point. Showing that you can identify a problem and addressing it. I have been working on a research problem addressing alarm fatigue on stepdown floors but it has been really difficult to organize. Definitely a marathon and not a sprint.

I guess I don’t understand how it works. I feel like I’m back at square one. My OMS friend did a study on his stepdown floor regarding nurse defibrillator training and outcomes and was published in a journal (American Journal of Critical Care). I’m hoping for something along those lines.

When a student joins a lab, they are usually given a choice of projects to work on, or told something like "I need someone to do western blotting on these tumor cells after we knock down the Rb gene"

Students do NOT get a chance to run around loose in the lab and work on anything they want to, or walk into a lab and say "Can I work on subject X?" when the subject has nothing to do with the PI's research.

 

[deleted938090]

Lab skills =/= research.

What is research?
1. What am I trying to learn more about?
2. If I want to know about X, what procedure Y should I do?
3. If my result in test X shows Y, what does that mean about Z?
4. What is the significance of I get result X instead of expected result Y?

IMO summer wet lab projects are rarely enough time to get publications or do something significant. Meaningful results come out around 6 months+. Don't expect publications before ~6 months.

Also, you're not a PI and it's very unlikely to get into a lab and get to work on a project by yourself immediately. You'll be paired with a PhD student or a postdoc.