By Brendan Hogan, OUR Peer Research Ambassador
When I applied to UConn, I had no idea that I would be involved in research as a social science major, as I saw UConn as a center for innovative research in science and engineering. To be completely honest, I just simply thought of research as something that I would never be introduced to and understand.
However, in my first semester as a freshman, I was given the opportunity through the Bennett Research Assistant Program to work alongside Professor Morrell on the Scholio Project. The goal behind our project was to try to promote intellectual humility and public discourse in online news comment sections amid the polarized political climate of today. I was tasked with carrying out research on the latest experiments, assembling a survey for participants, and conducting initial user testing on our experimental platforms.
Here are a few tips that I learned through the course of my research:
Flexibility is Necessary
One of the things that any undergraduate should understand with research is that they will have to plan their projects around their class time and their own mentor’s schedule. I normally had to send off summaries of my weekly work to my professor. Depending on the week, a simple two-hour task would take five days as I would have to plan for a time where I could talk to Professor Morrell about what exactly I had to do, plan time for carrying out the task, and even wait for his response after sending off the information to him.
Advanced Planning is Required
Another large barrier to success is scheduling meetings with team members. Working alongside others in Japan and the United Kingdom, as well as scientists at MIT, our team relied heavily upon Skype calls and Gmail to communicate. With our team spread across the world, we had to plan team meetings a few weeks in advance. The reason behind this was that we had to take into account not only everyone’s own busy work and academic schedules, but also the various time zones as well. Consequently, as one enters a research project, they should realize that the management aspect behind any project will require a lot of time as well.
Challenges are Opportunities
One last barrier to success can be determining how to make progress on a project involving human participants while it is under review by the Institutional Review Board (IRB). As much of my project work was paused while IRB approval was pending, I learned that you should always be prepared for this part of the research process. Reflecting upon this challenge, I can say that you should never become discouraged, but rather use challenges as opportunities to reflect on your own values and grow as a person. In this particular instance, I realized that I have learned a lot about the perspective-taking research that I conducted, but I also became accustomed to a real world research project. When a project is delayed or challenges arise, it may be tempting to look for another opportunity, but it is up to you to say that you will work with your team to help them as much as you can. Even if it means that you only work for an hour or so every week, it still is a huge win for you, as you will learn to persevere. This ability to face challenges and persist is not only important for research, but also for life.
If you ever have the opportunity to participate in research, with a topic that you love, take that chance and go for it! You will learn a lot about yourself and develop both as a student and an individual. Also, if you are someone with interests in the social sciences and/or humanities, look around the research community, as there are so many opportunities for people like you!
Brendan Hogan is a sophomore majoring in Political Science and Psychology and minoring in Philosophy. Click here to learn more about Brendan.