Types of research experience

[-hermes-]

Hi!

I'm applying for a Master's degree, and I don't have any academic research experience. However, I have recruited and moderated focus groups, designed and analysed quantitative surveys, and the like for my day job.

Does professional research mitigate my lack of academic research experience at all?

Google searches throw up tons of advice on how to land academic research exp, but don't answer a more simplistic question: aside from the undergrads who manage to get publications, what sort of day to day research activities are ideal masters applicants supposed to have done?

[fuzzylogician]

An honors thesis.

An independent study.

An internship.

An RAship, even if it didn't lead to publications.

A TAship.

I don't know about ideal students, but those would be ways to gain extra experience.

[process chemist]

Work experience can be counted as research experience/practical experience. Many people in the sciences use their work experience/projects as their research experience. Unless specified by the program, "academic" research is not necessarly required.

[Eigen]

It just depends how closely the "industry" experience tracks what you would be doing in "academic" research. If you're gaining the same types of skills, then you can write it up focusing on that. If you're not gaining the same types of skills/working in a parallel fashion to what you would have been doing/will be doing in academia, then it's not as valuable.

[-hermes-]

Thanks for the responses everyone! it's reassuring to know that industry research may help my case.

To clarify my question, I'd like to get a rough idea of what sorts of responsibilities undergrads undertake when gaining research experience in the social sciences: are they entrusted to crunch numbers and run statistical analyses? Or deliver surveys? What sort of activities?

I've looked through research done by professors in my field of interest, but it's hard to discern what the scope of the RA or undergrad students' contributions would have been.

[rising_star]

It varies. I collected data for profs as an undergrad, largely by administering phone surveys. And yet, for whatever reason, I've never listed it as "research experience". Maybe I'm weird.