time it takes to come up with a 4th year project hypothesis?

[elemosynarical]

is 2 weeks enough for me to come up with a hypothesis or research QUESTION for a 4th year psychology project?

or is it better that I delay my project until the summer and spend a lot more time thinking about a research question BEFORE I start a 4th year research project?

I'm sort of panicking right now, because the full-year proposals are due in 2 weeks, and I don't know if 2 weeks is sufficient to come up with a brilliant idea

it's not as big of a deal as  master's thesis project, but it is a 4th year undergrad research project, so...
any ideas? 

Should I decide to do the project for this upcoming Fall-Winter school year or delay it until the summer so I can spend more time brainstorming ideas?

I'm afraid if I delay it by the summer, the supervisor won't want me to be part of the lab anymore

Edited August 16, 2017 by elemosynarical

[vallaboop]

11 hours ago, elemosynarical said:

is 2 weeks enough for me to come up with a hypothesis or research QUESTION for a 4th year psychology project?

or is it better that I delay my project until the summer and spend a lot more time thinking about a research question BEFORE I start a 4th year research project?

I'm sort of panicking right now, because the full-year proposals are due in 2 weeks, and I don't know if 2 weeks is sufficient to come up with a brilliant idea

it's not as big of a deal as  master's thesis project, but it is a 4th year undergrad research project, so...
any ideas? 

Should I decide to do the project for this upcoming Fall-Winter school year or delay it until the summer so I can spend more time brainstorming ideas?

I'm afraid if I delay it by the summer, the supervisor won't want me to be part of the lab anymore

Can you provide a bit more background? I'm not entirely sure what you mean. Does your research question have to pertain to the research that is being done in the lab that you are in? If so, what is the research that is being done? If possible, I think you should come up with your research question within the next two weeks because then you will have more time to actually complete the research before you graduate. Depending on the circumstances it shouldn't be too hard.

[PokePsych]

well, depends on whether you have already a sort of theme or topic. I had classes/times I came up with an amazing idea the day of the deadline (and got rid of my previous one) and pulled it off, and tehre were times I needed more time - also to read into the literature.

Do you have a topic you are interested in and that would fit to this professor?
Are you familiar with the literature on this topic to identify some gap (or are familiar of a new method that would allow you to research something novel too)?
Do you have any specific method you want to familiarize yourself with that may push you in the direction of a question? (e.g., if you want to learn about hormonal research or something)

Also it may be nice to ask what that prof is interested in and what they are currently looking into. Talking with him/her may also push you in a certain direction. Wouldn't be the first time that a prof is hinting in a certain direction or openly saying I wonder how ... 

[elemosynarical]

14 hours ago, cindyboop said:

Can you provide a bit more background? I'm not entirely sure what you mean. Does your research question have to pertain to the research that is being done in the lab that you are in? If so, what is the research that is being done? If possible, I think you should come up with your research question within the next two weeks because then you will have more time to actually complete the research before you graduate. Depending on the circumstances it shouldn't be too hard.

yes, so the prof's lab area of interest is cognitivei psychology and gender, yes my research question should pertain to gender+ cognition, but it doesn't necessarily have to be pertinent that is being done in the lab right now, it could be something COMPLETELY BRAND NEW AND NOVEL AND UNIQUE, but it still has to be about gender+ cognition, prof has given me a lot of flexibility, and i think it's better to be relatively creative, that being said it would be wise to be familiar with the literature out there in cognition + gender

I'm thinking of delaying it until the summer, so I have more time to think of a research question

the downside to this is that by the time the summer is here, the prof could entirely lose interest in me, and no longer want me to do a project with him anymore

Edited August 17, 2017 by elemosynarical

[elemosynarical]

14 hours ago, Psygeek said:

well, depends on whether you have already a sort of theme or topic. I had classes/times I came up with an amazing idea the day of the deadline (and got rid of my previous one) and pulled it off, and tehre were times I needed more time - also to read into the literature.

Do you have a topic you are interested in and that would fit to this professor?
Are you familiar with the literature on this topic to identify some gap (or are familiar of a new method that would allow you to research something novel too)?
Do you have any specific method you want to familiarize yourself with that may push you in the direction of a question? (e.g., if you want to learn about hormonal research or something)

Also it may be nice to ask what that prof is interested in and what they are currently looking into. Talking with him/her may also push you in a certain direction. Wouldn't be the first time that a prof is hinting in a certain direction or openly saying I wonder how ... 

 Well the research question MUST be relevant to cognition+ gender, so right now, I'm pressed for time, due to so many final exams, etc.

I'm wondering if two weeks is enough to come up with an idea, or should I delay it until the summer, so that I have 6 months to think about it?

The only downside to this is by the time summer is here, the prof might not be interested in working with me anymore

[PokePsych]

I certainly think 2 weeks is possible.

Cognition is a broad topic and there must be plenty of questions unasked and unaswered. Other than that - every research question should be brand new and novel - otherwise your'e doing a replication. I'd find a certain direction (i.e., narrow it down - which part of cognition literature are you most into or is focused on in the lab), look up some recent papers on that theme to find out what's going on there and see if you can push it in a new direction. Also cognition is a very broad field - even subfields such as social cognition go a lot of different directions and have a lot of different topics. Nevertheless, if you are very unfamiliar with the topic, you may need some more time. 

[vallaboop]

On 8/16/2017 at 10:24 PM, elemosynarical said:

yes, so the prof's lab area of interest is cognitivei psychology and gender, yes my research question should pertain to gender+ cognition, but it doesn't necessarily have to be pertinent that is being done in the lab right now, it could be something COMPLETELY BRAND NEW AND NOVEL AND UNIQUE, but it still has to be about gender+ cognition, prof has given me a lot of flexibility, and i think it's better to be relatively creative, that being said it would be wise to be familiar with the literature out there in cognition + gender

I'm thinking of delaying it until the summer, so I have more time to think of a research question

the downside to this is that by the time the summer is here, the prof could entirely lose interest in me, and no longer want me to do a project with him anymore

I wouldn't be worried about your professor losing interest in you. You are still an undergrad, you have more leeway than a grad student. As long as you continue to volunteer in his/her lab then you will be okay, at least in my experience. It will definitely help you to read up on some literature from a variety or areas pertaining to those subjects. However, you are still limited to what resources you have available to you. For example, are you able to use student volunteers or is there a data set already collected that you can manipulate and make your own? These are things you need to consider when coming up with a question. Having a brilliant research question is great but it won't get you anywhere if you can't execute it. 

[Ppkitty]

 "that being said it would be wise to be familiar with the literature out there in cognition + gender" - Yeah I think this is really important, I'm not sure if by this you meant that you are or are not familiar with the depth of the literature, but I would recommend reading at least 20 papers on the topic and looking for phrases like "further research is needed", etc. That should spark some ideas. You can probably tear through that many papers in a weekend.