Expectations of undergraduate research assistants
Undergrad RAs typically start by working with a graduate or postdoctoral mentor doing entry level tasks such as data collection and entry. This is a chance to become familiar with the kind of research conducted in labs like ours and the basics of what goes into running experiments. It’s a chance to see whether you take to research. A big part of exposure to lab research is learning that it involves a lot of grunt work and very little day-to-day glory for everyone involved. I expect you to be prompt, reliable and precise in the tasks you are asked to do. We expect you to work in the lab an average of 10 hours a week. If your curiosity is sparked, you get first refusal on opportunities for directed studies/course credit and increasing opportunities to learn higher level skills, to generate your own research questions, and to present research at undergraduate and local conferences. You can expect our full support on helping you achieve your post-graduation goals, whatever they may be.
Expectations of COGS 402/Psychology directed studies/Honours students
We take our mentoring obligations to students working in the lab for course credit, and so slots are limited by the time and resources of lab members and facilities. Priority for these slots goes to students who already have a track record of volunteering in our lab. Sometimes, however, we are able to offer 402/Honours project slots to students who haven’t worked in the lab.
COGS 402
As with volunteer RAs, new COGS 402 students typically start by working with a graduate or postdoctoral mentor doing entry level tasks such as data collection and entry, or – depending on skills – some programming related to running our experiments. This is a chance to become familiar with the kind of research conducted in labs like ours and the basics of what goes into running experiments. It’s a chance to see whether you take to research. In the past, some students have had very high expectations about the level of scientific independence and glory to be achieved in one’s first semester in a lab, and this inevitably results in disappointment. A big part of exposure to lab research is learning that it involves a lot of grunt work and very little day-to-day glory for everyone involved. And before you can devise and run your own experiments you need an apprenticeship phase where you learn how we devise and run experiments in a lab such as ours.
Our expectations of you:
- We expect you to be prompt, reliable and precise in the tasks you are asked to do. All the time. No matter how brilliant you are, it will not be a successful experience if you don’t meet those expectations.
- We expect 10 hours a week in the lab. On average. We know that some times of the semester are crazy, so you can work more at other times to balance out having less time then.
- We expect you to take responsibility for making sure we get you want you need so you can complete all of your course assignments successfully. Make sure we know your deadlines and feel free to remind us!
What you can expect of us:
- We will point you to key literature so that you can have a thorough understanding of the background and rationale for the study you are doing and the motivation for the research questions.
- We will meet with you regularly
- We will provide you with basic tools/skills to analyze and interpret the data you collect
- We will provide the opportunity to learn higher-level skills in if you have the interest/aptitude.
- We will provide prompt feedback on presentations and papers as requested
- We will respond to emails and questions promptly