What you should aim for is having a significant part in a project (or more than one) and even having the opportunity to develop and carry out your project. This experience can teach you a lot about responsibility (to yourself and to others), experimental skills, data analysis, and (perhaps most importantly) an ability to draw thoughtful conclusions and determine places where your work could be improved. If you're going to try out research, which I think is a good general idea, you should talk to potential PIs about their expectations of you (time commitment, etc.) as well as what you can expect from the lab (how much autonomy, etc.).