Doing research yourself?

[lechat]

Hi

Here is my problem. I want to go to graduate school for criminal justice. My BA will be in psychology, and my college does not offer CJ as a majpr. Despite me looking for places during the school year - the pickings are essentially nonexistent in my area or are summer REUs that cross into my semester. I don't think it's just me, because my advisor has been looking for me as well. Most people are able to do research during the summer - but, that hasn't been an option to me because I've had to work each summer and it hasn't allowed me to go to nearby states.

I graduate this coming spring and I would love to get some kind of relevant documented research (beyond class) under my belt this summer, and the summer after graduation (though I expect the latter to be done formally in a lab - but too late for applications). Has anyone heard of doing small scale research by oneself? Or advice for gaining this experience outside of an REU?

I was also considering doing something like this - throughout the semester and this summer if possible.

http://thehub.nd.edu...e-your-own-reu/

But it's complicated by the fact that the closest criminal justice lab that I know of (with research opportunities) is UAB and their REU program only accepted 12 students. Also looking into the one nearby college that does offer the degree - none of their faculty is doing research or actively publishing.

Thanks.

Edited May 9, 2011 by lechat