Reprinted by permission of Psi Chi Honor Society.
Involving the Undergraduate in Faculty Research
Elizabeth
P. Ossoff, PhD
Saint Anselm College
One of the biggest challenges
for both faculty and students in the ever-competitive world of research is how
to get the job done. Students need the opportunity to learn and grow, as well as
to increase their chances of attending graduate school; faculty members need to
pursue their discipline and feed their teaching. Since students often do not
understand the urgency of their need, the burden of this endeavor is left to the
faculty. After all, the faculty person is the one with the upper hand in terms
of social power, and the student is therefore likely to be apprehensive, at
best, in the pursuit of research. But how does the faculty member go about
involving the student? This article presents several suggestions as to how
this can happen as painlessly as possible for all. The ideas here are not just
for the faculty member, but also provide some insight for students as to how the
system works and how to facilitate their own interests.
The vehicles for the inclusion of students
in research follow two primary roads: a programmatic approach, and an informal
one. The programmatic approach includes the use of the classroom to spark
interest in research. The classroom is perhaps the college professor's most
valuable tool for conveying the passion that often goes with the pursuit of
research. It is here the student first sees our enthusiasm and excitement over
"doing science." Although important and traditional, the classroom is
not the only conventional vehicle for involving the student in our research.
Other areas that spring from the classroom include in-class projects and/or lab
reports that require the collection of some small amounts of data, but
nonetheless help to answer a real research question. These paths are often best
used to illustrate the mechanics of the research process and can be used to
springboard to a research question proposed by the faculty or student. The last
programmatic approach I will mention involves a teaching tool that has become
quite popular in recent years within the field of psychology--service learning [see
the article on page 22]. Here the student does some service
to the community that directly relates to the content area of the course he or
she is taking. Often the "hands-on" nature of this course component
can spark questions from the students which the faculty can then use to draw the
student into a line of research related to that interest.
The informal approach mentioned takes a
different tack. Here the faculty must display personal interest in the student.
Sometimes this can be accomplished by informal meetings after class which begin
as simply a question of clarification about a point in the lecture just given,
and grow into an invitation to answer the question by attending a meeting in
the lab of the professor. Let's face it, to approach a faculty member about
becoming part of a research group is considered a daunting task by the undergraduate.
Although
we faculty would like to believe it is so, students are not necessarily going
to be drawn to the glow of our intellects like moths to a flame, no matter how
brightly we may radiate. As was said before, we have the social power advantage
here, and we can use that social dynamic to benefit our students and ourselves.
Just saying, "Stop by and visit" may not be enough for some students.
We increase the probability of high interest and motivation if we make the first
move, or make it easy for the student to make it. In connection with this latter
point, guest speakers in a class can also pave the way for students and faculty
to approach one another about the answer to a research question. These speakers
can be other students who are currently involved in the faculty's research and
are presenting data or reporting on a field experience. The power of a role
modeling effect by these student speakers as well as outside guests should not
be underestimated.
Other informal vehicles that both students
and faculty prize are trips to regional conferences. These conferences are
usually local; for example, in our region, the annual meetings of the New
England Psychological Association and the Eastern Psychological Association are
usually reachable by college van for a day or overnight. Students get an
opportunity to watch the presentation of work they only read about, and through
organizations like Psi Chi, often can present the work in which they are
themselves involved. This again makes use of the role modeling effect of one set
of students for another. The conference also shows the students the vast number
of research questions that are addressable, thus providing research ideas for
them, and demystifying some of the professional process. Students can then
follow up on interactions at conferences with faculty and speakers through
e-mail and Internet connections. These channels become increasingly important as
Web sites grow in number and importance to the discipline.
The vehicles described above
dovetail nicely with the overall goals of research with undergraduates. These
routes allow the formation of valued relationships and allow both faculty and
student to investigate a passion. By this I mean the persons involved utilize
the skills and enthusiasm of the others to answer their research question. Both
faculty and students benefit from these relationships. Their roles complement
and reinforce each other's participation in the process. Once the establishment
of the relationship takes place, which may begin by one of the methods proposed
above, that relationship can exist and extend on several levels. As faculty we
often begin student researchers at a low level of involvement to assess their
skills and to give them the opportunity to decide what their level of commitment
will be to this project. The process of the relationship may therefore begin
with the student conducting a library search on the question of study, and then
move on to more involved levels such as data entry, testing participants, or
data analysis, all of which may culminate in coauthored work with faculty. These
levels also allow the student with limited time, skills, or commitment to be
involved in the research process, making research more of an overall teaching
tool and making the process accessible for all.
Sometimes the beginning of a research
project is the most exciting time for researchers, and student interest may wane
as the rather slow wheels of research grind on. It needs to be pointed out,
however, that there are multiple reinforcers for students and faculty in this
process. These include some straight-forward benefits such as student access to
resources and faculty. But less immediately tangible reinforcers also exist.
Students, as was stated earlier, can serve as role models for other students.
This benefits both students and faculty who may be trying to convince other
students of the benefits and ease of the research process. Students perform this
role modeling effect by presenting ongoing research in introductory psychology
courses, acting as course tutors, and by monitoring the research activities of
less knowledgeable students just starting the journey into research. Related to
these role modeling functions, and as an added benefit, students also get to
present their research at regional and/or national conferences, either by
themselves or with faculty. For faculty at small colleges with a demanding
teaching load these relationships also provide a vehicle for adding to their own
vitae, as well as providing to students the opportunity to add to their own
beginning resumes.
This article would be grossly
remiss in its presentation of this subject matter if it did not address some of
the barriers proposed by students and faculty who say that involving students in
faculty research, or any research at all, is counterproductive and overwhelming
for both them and the students. The complaint by faculty that the research
component may take away from their teaching misses one of the fundamental tenets
of our discipline, i.e., there would be nothing to teach without the research.
Conducting research is not only teaching in and of itself, but it is also a way
we as psychologists can remain informed and excited about our chosen field.
Turning a student on to the challenge and joy of research is central to any
preparation of a student in psychology.
Also mentioned by some faculty may be the
complaint that this type of inclusion of students will only occur for the gifted
or honor students, and that others will lack the drive or interest to
participate. However, if the focus in the research is on small doable tasks that
begin with vehicles about which students can become excited (e.g., service
learning, in-class presentation of pilot data, an in-house newsletter to
students about the goings-on in the department), the research experience is made
accessible and open to all, and is not seen by students as elitist or
exclusionary.
There will always be some students and/or
faculty who may not be interested in or motivated to this process described. The
preceding proposes, however, that it is not impossible or even that difficult to
include the undergraduate in the research process. It benefits the student and
the faculty member to encourage this relationship, and allows all of us to
address the problem mentioned in the first line of this article, and that is how
to get the work done.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Elizabeth P. Ossoff, PhD,
serves as associate professor of psychology and Psi Chi faculty advisor at Saint
Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. Dr. Ossoff earned her bachelor's degree at
Colby College and her master's and doctoral degrees at Tufts University. After
receiving her PhD in 1990, she came to Saint Anselm College, where she specializes
in social psychology. Her primary research has been in the area of political
psychology. Most recently she has studied individuals' interpretations of media
messages, news stories, and political speeches.
Dr. Ossoff has introduced many students to research over the
past few years, particularly through Saint Anselm's Senior Research Project, a
vehicle by which students learn about faculty research, begin to do their own
research, and go on to make presentations. Having attended the National
Institute for the Teaching of Psychology for the past several years, she
recently presented a poster there entitled "An Evaluation of a
Faculty-Sponsored Research Program." She also chaired a session at the
recent EPA Convention, a symposium of student presentations entitled
"Developmental, Social, and Applied Research on Gender: In the Family, In
Humor, and In the Workplace." Dr. Ossoff is married and has two young sons.
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Spring 1998 issue of Eye on Psi Chi (Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 18-20), published by Psi Chi, The National Honor Society in Psychology (Chattanooga, TN). Copyright, 1998, Psi Chi, The National Honor Society in Psychology. All rights reserved.