<p>I keep hearing people saying that they are "doing research". What exactly does that mean? For example, if you help out in a lab for a couple of hours every week, does that count as "research"? Or is research when you are actually performing and running your own experiments?</p>
<p>I have noticed that when I am just helping out in a lab, I usually can't make any intellectual contribution to the research project, simply because the the research is on a PhD level rather than on a level an undergraduate can understand. Usually when I am just helping out in a lab, its just a bunch of people with PhDs just telling me to make simple buffers, while they do the more important stuff. I am usually stuck with the routine simple task of the research project. So is what I am doing considered research?</p>
<p>***For example, last week all I did was make 15 buffers and some other solutions (I don't even know what these other solutions do). I was given the ingredients and directions on how to make them. I didn't really do anything important. Is this really research?</p>
<p>You’re not doing research. When you are doing research you should have a good grasp of the science behind what you are doing and have quite a lot of independence in what you do.</p>
<p>I’d probably consider this aspect of your time at that lab to be more the role of a lab tech–something anyone with sufficient training could do, and you just happen to be the guy that does it. Perhaps as you continue on with this lab, you’ll enter more of a research role–maybe helping one of the PhD’s with a project or taking on a project of your own. If that’s the case, then I would consider that to be research, and I would have no qualms about listing the experience from the time you began being a “lab tech” through the present time as one research experience; one that started with an “easier” role and progressively got harder.</p>
<p>I’ve spent nearly 500h doing research from freshman year through now (a little during fall semester freshman year, for credit spring semester freshman year, for credit spring semester sophomore year, for credit all of junior year). I started out learning about what our lab was doing (exploring the development of bacterial treatments for prostate cancer) and how we were doing it. I spent the spring semester in a graduate level class learning how to use electron microscopy for my projects and ran my own set of microscopy experiments. I took fall semester off to work on organic chemistry and picked up the lab again spring semester. My experiments had proceeded slightly since then, so I continued with them, again focusing on all elements of scanning and transmission electron microscopy for our genetically modified bacteria. This year I changed directions slightly and focused on fluorescent light microscopy, cell culture techniques, growing bacteria, and determining which strain of bacteria is more effective. I’ve presented numerous posters about my work and we’re in the process of publishing it–should have a publication by August. </p>
<p>I list all of this as one experience spanning from the beginning of freshman year until the present. I have friends with a wide variety of research experience and it seems like we all list it similarly.</p>
<p>Do you consider what you’re doing as research? If you don’t, then don’t classify it as research. If you do, then go for it. Good luck!</p>
<p>im just wondering…does it matter what kind of research u do? i know you should research what you’re interested in…but which one looks better: doing brain mapping where you deliniate brain structures in schizophrenic patients for instance versus working in an actual laboratory setting where u help run actual experiments?</p>
<p>Doesn’t matter if you do clinical or lab research, nor does the topic matter - it all looks essentially the same for admissions. This is also true for residency applications, unless you’re going into an uber-competitive specialty in which case you want to have research in that field.</p>
<p>well I do work with faculty members at my school, but I guess since I am at the initial process of doing research its hard for me to understand everything. I do get the basic outline of what the research team is doing, but not the details (I guess you would need a PhD to understand this) rather than just 1 year of undergrad.</p>
<p>Start asking questions and get to know the members of your lab better. If you’re performing research as an undergrad you might not know EVERYTHING about the experiment and the science behind it, but you should at least know what you are doing (and even more importantly WHY you are doing it - what is the overall goal of the project and how are you getting there?).</p>
<p>When I say I “do research” it’s because I helped design the project, I perform many of the assays required, and I have frequent discussions with the graduate students and PIs about the data and my findings. </p>
<p>Every lab runs differently though, and I have heard stories where the undergraduate students are stuck washing dishes and don’t have any contact with the PI. I personally think that’s unfortunate, because the research environment is so much better when there’s communication between all levels of students as well as the PI. I guess I was just lucky to find my current position.</p>
<p>I heard from DS that, when a student just joins a lab, he would be asked to read many papers that were published by that research group in the past – before he can have any meaningful conversation with most post-docs who may have been there for many years. I do not know whether the same happens to other “beginning researchers.”</p>
<p>My lab had me read one paper and even that they told me to skim. What I had was a grad student sit down with me and explain whats going on in the lab right now and what I would be doing. This same grad student then helped me design my project and interpret results. One thing that really helped me understand the science behind what was going on is that I had submit a research proposal to the school before I could start at the lab, so writing that up gave me a good idea of the science behind it.</p>
<p>Also, my labs really chill. PI, post docs, grads, and undergrads all talk and go out to lunch every so often. I’ve even been to dinner at my PI’s house a few times. All the kids I know who are doing research are also friendly with their PI’s and postdocs. Maybe its cause my school is research centered and there’s a couple of undergrads in almost all the labs?</p>