ak90

Sorry for the double-post but I realized this question is probably more relevant in this forum... I was accepted into a social psych PhD program for the fall straight from undergrad, which I'm really excited for, but one of the students in another lab with similar interests asked me to help out on a research project. I'd have no trouble helping if I knew what to do, but we just kind of agreed to both study the general topic of the study and eventually design a study. I just keep feeling like I don't know enough to contribute to the study design. She's basically come up with everything and I just keep going "that sounds like a great idea!" I mean, I'm reading up on the subject, but I'm just having a lot of trouble coming up with something original, and I feel like I keep doing that just for the sake of being original and it's not necessarily helpful. I'm not sure if I should email her and just say, "hey, I have no clue what I'm doing, can you just tell me what you want me to do to help you with this project?" But at the same time my fiancee keeps telling me I need to step up... whatever that means. I just really want this girl to know I care about the subject and I really want to learn more, but I just feel lost and like I don't know as much as I should given that I got into a PhD program... Any advice?

I was accepted into a social psych PhD program for the fall straight from undergrad, which I'm really excited for, but one of the students in another lab with similar interests asked me to help out on a research project. I'd have no trouble helping if I knew what to do, but we just kind of agreed to both study the general topic of the study and eventually design a study. I just keep feeling like I don't know enough to contribute to the study design. She's basically come up with everything and I just keep going "that sounds like a great idea!" I mean, I'm reading up on the subject, but I'm just having a lot of trouble coming up with something original, and I feel like I keep doing that just for the sake of being original and it's not necessarily helpful. I'm not sure if I should email her and just say, "hey, I have no clue what I'm doing, can you just tell me what you want me to do to help you with this project?" But at the same time my fiancee keeps telling me I need to step up... whatever that means. I just really want this girl to know I care about the subject and I really want to learn more, but I just feel lost and like I don't know as much as I should given that I got into a PhD program... Any advice?