<p>This question stems from a previous post of mine--how does one go about doing one's own research? Do you just come up with an idea and then start researching? Do you submit a plan with a professor? Do you write grants to help pay for your time? I read about so much research that seems so pointless and irrelevant and yet, people are getting paid huge sums of money to conduct the studies. I guess my question is--do universities care what the research is, or are they just looking for someone who is motivated enough to do their own research?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Maybe that’s because the research they’re doing isn’t pointless and irrelevant?</p>
<p>Seriously, I’m sure you didn’t intend to offend with this, but you’re perpetuating a damaging stereotype of academic research - in a forum devoted to people who are interested in academic research.</p>
<p>So, as polarscribe mentioned, I did mean something different in my reply in the previous thread. :)</p>
<p>I’m also not convinced that “doing one’s own research” in this context is terribly important. It can certainly be a plus, but I don’t see any harm in being part of a larger project. It’s a great way to learn from people who are more experienced than you and a great way to learn how to work as part of a research team. Additionally, you can still get excellent recommendations and publications. You won’t be first author on a publication but if you do a significant amount of the work, it’s certainly possibly to be a co-first author or 2nd/3rd. </p>
<p>As for getting your own project as an undergrad, the “easiest” way is probably to approach professors and ask if they have any projects lying around that they would let you work on. Another way would be to work on another project with a prof or grad student for a while, showing them that you are responsible and mature and can do good research, and then transitioning into working on your own projects.</p>
<p>Thanks guys and/or gals. No…I would never suggest that academic research is pointless. Of course not. Sorry to come across that way. Although I have read of studies in which the conclusions seemed rather obvious.</p>
<p>Sure, but what about the cases where the study shows the “obvious” conclusion to have been totally and completely wrong?</p>
<p>The only way to really know is to do the study. So, yes, sometimes you get studies that just prove we’ve all been right all along :)</p>
<p>…touche’</p>
<p>Media sound bites often make research conclusions seem “obvious” because they take out the complexities and offer only the ten-second version of it. If a journal article catches the interest of the media, chances are it’s because the research was published in a high profile journal – and those journals don’t accept papers without serious review. </p>
<p>But that’s straying from the question. Undergraduates are not expected to undertake completely original research. They research under the guidance and direction of professors. Most undergraduates start out small doing low-level tasks appropriate for their level of training, and then gradually become more and more involved in research until they are skilled/experienced enough to do an honors thesis.</p>
<p>Thanks…that sounds logical. My son interns for the USGA and his job is collecting soil samples, entering data onto a spreadsheet, etc… So it is not HIS research but what he is learning is how one conducts research, the steps, the purpose, etc… I would assume that he could include this as assisting with research on his CV even though it is not his own resarch.</p>
<p>“Doing one’s own research” is really truly an option only commonly available to professors! In all other cases you are constrained in some way. In industry, you are constrained by your superiors’ ideas of what might be profitable. For undergrads or grad students, the range of possible research subjects will be tightly constrained by the resources of their advisor.</p>
<p>Ultimately, what is important is that as a student you have a significant and broad role. Depending on the individual, this may mean a small project that is executed with only minimal assistance from the professor, or it may mean handling part of a much larger project. Either is acceptable, provided you get experience with all the phases of the project - conception, planning, execution, analysis, writing, and presentation.</p>
<p>On a different post, my question had something to do with what it takes to get into graduate school and several most insisted that my son should be doing his own research–one even suggested that he was not motivated enough to be doing his own research then he didn’t deserve to go on to graduate school–which is why I started this post. But now that I think about it, I can’t think of any of his engineering friends who have done “their own research”. They have all worked under a professor, which is exactly what he does for the USGA and he will be doing next summer in Germany.</p>
<p>To clarify: on the other thread, the poster was telling you that your son, and not you, should be the one researching programs. He/she didn’t mean that your son should be doing his own scientific research. </p>
<p>But he should be doing scientific research as well. From what you say, he is doing just that.</p>
<p>“people are getting paid huge sums of money to conduct the studies”</p>
<p>I would like to get in on these studies. Unfortunately I don’t think anybody aside from PIs are making bank on anything. And it shouldn’t be ignored, that PIs cognate positions as thought leaders in administrative roles, would net them substantially more in any other context.</p>