Working in a lab

[dirkduck]

Hey everyone. This doesn't really have to do with any program in particular, but I figure this is the best forum to ask in. I'm looking towards accepting an offer in psychology (experimental, not clinical) for a Ph.D. program. In undergrad I majored in psychology and sociology, but most of my research was done in sociology. As such, my research experience is primarily qualitative and not "in the lab" experimental. I'm really thrilled about the offer, but I am worried about not having a background in psychology lab research. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to best prepare myself in order to not look clueless come August? I am not oblivious to experimental methods, and have been on the participant side of a lot of psych. research, but have not had the opportunity to conduct any myself. I guess my fear is that on day one, getting into the program, and having my adviser bring me to the lab and say "get to work" (exaggerated, but that idea). Any tips? Thanks a lot.

EDIT: I should add, I have thought about getting involved in a lab in summer for a few months, but so far the opportunities have been bleak. So this is assuming I am unable to get any lab positions before August.

[cogneuroforfun]

I guess my fear is that on day one, getting into the program, and having my adviser bring me to the lab and say "get to work" (exaggerated, but that idea).

I think programs (and PI's) might differ somewhat in this respect, but in general this isn't going to happen. You'll have some first year core courses in methods, stats, and other requirements. During that time, you'll be in your lab doing something, but I think most people start out pretty slow, especially since you might have to TA that first year in addition to take a bunch of classes. Most likely you and your PI will get together and talk about some projects you might want to do, then get a pilot study set up. That will be a great time for you to learn.

Email a current student or two in your program and ask about how the workload is split up between classes, lab time, TA (If you have to) during the first semester and first year. They'll be able to tell you best!

[psychology]

Cogneuroforfun has a great answer, although almost all the programs I applied to involved pretty intensive first year projects-- and the school where I'm going expects you to write your Master's thesis your first year, which I assume means bringing at least one (if not more) experiments to fruition.

Also, if you need to be paid for the summer, then you're right, it will probably be difficult to get experience. However, if you can afford even a month or two unpaid work, I know very few labs who would turn away a free set of Grad-school-admitted hands. In some cases, your PI may even be able to welcome you in. I should note, though, that I come from a cog. dev. background, and most of the experimenting happens during the summer (when kids are on vacation). If you study adults, it may be different. I would definitely contact your PI (if you haven't already) to talk about this, and also to make sure that YOU (and not s/he) will be designing your first studies. If s/he is, then worry not... all the training you need will be on the way. Otherwise, you will definitely want to prepare.

So... how to prepare...

I assume you have a somewhat specific area of interest. The best preparation you can get is to read, read, read over the summer. If you haven't already, figure out the big names and the small ones, and find out who's working together. When you're reading, pay special attention to methods and results to see HOW people are testing the questions you're interested in, and also what sorts of factors/stats are generally considered important to explore in your subfield. That way, come your intro Stats class, you'll know what to pay the most attention to

I definitely always have a list of potential future studies I could do-- I don't bother to research whether they've been done or spend much time thinking about them until it's time to start designing a new study, but it's amazing how quickly your ideas will disappear. Since you haven't done much experimental pscyh research before, my guess is that you'll want to take an older study as a jumping-off point and modify the methods/research question a bit to see what a subtle change to those things might reveal (as opposed to reading only theoretical literature and breaking down the giant questions to smaller ones and designing an experiment totally from scratch). Take this summer to find 5-10 potential studies that you could use as guides. When you sit down with your PI, have them ready with ideas for next steps, and, even better, have a list prepared of things you need/things you need to do (purchase stimuli? recruit participants? decide between potential methods? get money? get access to equipment not in the lab? get a difficult IRB/ethics committee proposal out? how will you record data? how will you analyze it? what kind of timeline are you looking at?). In my experience, the hardest things about research are (a) coming up with a good question and ( managing logistics. Doing this stuff in advance will definitely (over)prepare you for next year.

Best of luck!

J

[dirkduck]

Thanks for the tips cogneuroforfun and psychology!

In the first semester of the program I believe the rough plan is TA plus stats class and methods class, along with research. I guess the intimidating part is transferring the methods knowledge that I've learned about extensively as an undergrad in a classroom setting to practice. But right now my plan is to dig in to my fresh-off-the-shelf copy of "The Oxford Handbook of Memory" .

[t_ruth]

man, I would give you guys a gold star if I could! what awesome answers! thanks!