Is it always hard to get enough fundings for a project in one's MA/graduate study?

[longforit]

I'm working on my thesis project which involves human subjects and costs about several hundreds of dollars. I was only able to get funds from our program and it can only cover the compensation for 20-25 participants (and divided into two groups) -- which are much less than I expected and I suspect the power for statistic analysis would be rather low. But my advisor shows no worry about the lack of money and lack of participants and insists that I should carry on the research and data analysis with such a small participant pool (she don't want to fund me from her lab I guess). And my colleagues suggested me that limited funding is pretty normal in doing research.

 

So my question is: 

Is it always the case that researchers don't have enough funding for their research? Or it's just more likely for graduate students/M.A. students? I know many people apply for external fundings or things like that, but it's hard for an M.A. student to secure such fundings since application for external fundings always takes a long time which a M.A student doesn't have (less than 1 year to do a project), and their proposals are usually less competitive than those who have been doing research for several years (PhD & faculty). 

But if they can't get enough funding, the study carried out might be less reliable and hard to support a hypothesis. If it's true that MA/graduate students always got underfunded, how can they strike a balance between limited funding and a good-quality paper? Or they're not expected to produce a high-quality at the first place? I guess I just got frustrated by the situation. I really want to FIND something, but with very limited participants, the chances aren't big. And I really hope I could get rid of this "poverty" in my later stage of doing research. 

 

Can anyone share his/her experience/opinions on this issue?

 

 

 

 

 

[beccamayworth]

I think it probably depends a lot on where you are. I'm at an MA program in the CSU system - so everyone is pretty much completely broke. I don't think MA students here ever get any funding for their research at all. Even small travel grants are extremely rare. 

 

However, in some departments there's a pretty smart system in place to get participants for experiments. Some classes require students to participate for mandatory course credit, for example. So even though I have no money for my research, I get participants from those classes because they're required to participate in something, and my study is one of their options. 

[longforit]

I know extra credit/mandatory credit works well ! Also things like Mechanical turk is much cheaper than having participants actually come to your lab..

 

My current study can't be done in either ways though. I need people with particular cognitive styles and I even need a screening test to rule out 75% of the people who took this screening.. I shall be very careful in designing the participant selection part in my future study!

Edited April 10, 2014 by longforit

[beccamayworth]

Oh that does sound complicated! Participants... one of the many tricky aspects of experimental methods...

 

I'd say the only "downside" of the credit thing is that you have to run everyone - even the people who will not be a part of your sample. :/  But hey, in the end you get some data.

[longforit]

Better more than less

[victorydance]

How comprehensive is the testing? Is it not possible to get volunteers?

[longforit]

It's an experimental-psychology-like study and takes an hour.. I guess even if there are volunteers there won't be enough (and I need people with specific characteristics, which makes it even harder..)

 

Plus my IRB application specifies the compensation, which means volunteers are not allowed..

Edited April 11, 2014 by longforit

[fuzzylogician]

Plus my IRB application specifies the compensation, which means volunteers are not allowed..

 

Doesn't your consent form have a "I waive my compensation" box? Mine does. It's never happened in the history of ever, but it's there just in case someone wants to participate without getting paid. 

[longforit]

Is there such an option?! I wish I could know it earlier! I think I have several participants came just for fun and may do without the money if I ask (they didn't even remember there was compensation) and some of my friends/students might join voluntarily too.

 

But I didn't add this box on my consent form so I can't have people participate without compensation (my advisor called having volunteers as "shortcut". Not sure it means I cannot have volunteers in this specific study or can't do it at all). But I will definitely try it next time

Edited April 11, 2014 by longforit

[victorydance]

I am pretty sure my friend did his entire MSc study on volunteers. His requirements were pretty stringent as well; he had to find people under the age of 18 that had suffered concussions in the last X months.

[juilletmercredi]

First of all, your master's thesis project doesn't have to be huge.  For an experimental study, an N of 40 might be large enough to yield results good enough for a master's thesis project.  And yes, it's very often true that MA thesis work is less reliable.  I published my MA thesis work as a brief report, not a full journal article.

But there are other ways to get funding.  You could write a grant, but usually grants take about 1.5-2 years to come through, so that's impractical.  Many professional organizations offer students funding in small amounts (usually less than $5,000) to conduct research; you have to submit a proposal and compete, but sometimes there aren't very many competitors.  The American Psychological Association offers many, but other orgs do too.

Whether or not your IRB will allow a "I waive my compensation" box will depend a lot on the project and your IRB.  I don't think my IRB would ever allow it - my samples are usually community samples, and they're mostly impoverished, and the IRB would likely argue that the box simply being there might be coercive or suggestive.  And personally I would probably agree with them in my case.

[lewin]

This might be too late for the OP, but for other people it's often a good idea, if possible, to propose a master's project that aligns with the purpose of your advisor's grant so that he/she will pay for it.