Disclaimer: these are all things that I've learned through experience, word-of-mouth, or through classes. I was accepted into my school's Psych Departmental Honors Program my senior year and conducted an independent research project from start to finish. I was also an editor for my school's undergraduate research journal of psychology. I hope that gives me more credibility, but even so, some information might not be entirely accurate (I'm not even in grad school and I'm already so jaded about academia and the academic publishing industry
(#｀-_ゝ-)... My bias is inevitable and palpable). Either way, take everything with a grain of salt, and remember that this was written in 2025. If you're reading this from the future, some of these things might not be applicable anymore.
If you ever notice a problem, feel free to contact me and I'll edit this page.
Last updated: April 20th, 2025
So you're interested in research...
Hey, that's great!
If you haven't figured out from this whole page being dedicated to research and the research process (and the fact that it's on my artist page no less, lmaoo), but I love it a lot. As much as I love art, I'm also, unfortunately, fundamentally a nerd at heart.
This will be a long read. I will be condensing EVERYTHING I've learned up until now--from the theorhetical to the practical to stuff in the hidden cirriculum.
I'll be covering a wide breadth of topics regarding research, so even if you're reading this out of curiousity, hopefully you will be able to follow and come away from this having learned something new. As for those of you who are reading this page because of resources, I will have that as well. Trying to get into research can be a very difficult, confusing, and overwhelming process, especially when you don't have anyone to guide you (this was definitely the case for me, haha), so I hope that this helps.
Since I specialize in psychology, most of these resources will either be from or about psych research and labs, but general research stuff will also be included. I don't know much about research in the humanities and other STEM fields, but I bet my advice/resources on (psych) research can still be applicable to research in other disciplines.
What is research?
Research is the process of gaining new knowledge through various methods. Some of these methods might include making observations, synthesizing ideas together, replicating and expanding on previous research, and collecting/analyzing materials. Through this process, the researcher hopes to "discover" truth or gain an understanding of their topic.
As I've implied previously, research occurs in all disciplines, but I will primarily focus on scientific research and will be talking about research in context of the scientific method.
The scientific method is a cycle. A structure of guidelines...
The first step of research is to have a question.
A law is
A theory is
A hypothesis is
Unless you're super experienced and/or ambitious, your research question will be a hypothesis.
Say it with me now... correlation DOES NOT equal causation.
Some places you can find research papers are on Google Scholar, on professor's lab pages, and in your university/college library.
How to read research papers:
If on any step you find yourself answering "no" to the question, then your efforts will be better spent elsewhere.
- Step 1: skim the abstract. The abstract is a summary of the research paper. It will tell you what the study's purpose was, what sample the data was collected from, and what the findings were. If the paper seems relevent, move onto Step 2.
- Step 2:
- If your paper is a literature review: skip to Step 3
- If your paper is empirical: skim the methodology. Are the variables
- Step 3: skim the discussion (or conclusion if your paper doesn't have a discussion)
- Are the findings relevent? Do the limitations compromise the validity of the findings?
- Step 4: read the entire paper
- This is where using Zotero (or other pdf readers) will help because you can use it to color-code your highlights and make notes.
- Pro tip: build a color-coding system early and use it consistantly. You will thank yourself later.
- I personally like to seperate my highlights as such: purpose/hypothesis/gap, findings, results (statistics), interesting citations/references, keywords/terminology, and limitations/future directions.
- Note any referenced citations that are relevent to your research and add it to your list of papers to read.
There are many different ways of collecting your data. The most common methods in psychology are experimental designs, surveys, and observational studies.
Between-subject - participants are split into 2+ groups
Within-subject - every participant experiences the same experiment (which means that they control for themselves).
The independent variable is the variable you are manipulating. I will use "IV" as shorthand.
The dependent variable is the variable you are measuring. I will use "DV" as shorthand.
Extraneous variables are any other variable that is not either the IV or the DV. Confounding variables are a type of this.
- Confounding variables are
- There are 3 ways to control for extraneous variables:
- Keep it constant
- Randomize
- Counterbalance
The methodology is the
- Tip when writing your methodology: make sure that you include enough information that someone else could reasonably replicate your study without having to ask you for clarifying details.
Once you've figured out your research design, the next step will be to get approval. This might mean contacting your FA(Faculty Advisor) or submitting your application to the IRB.
Speaking of stats...
If you want to go into research then you better get good at statistics, buddy.
Why should I care about statistics?
Having an understanding of how statistics works is useful in life. For one, you won't be as susceptible to fake news/advertisement etc. (more on this later; see Good/Bad Practices)
Basic statistics
At the very least, you should know what a standard deviation/standard error is and how it relates to the distribution (measuring the central tendency), the different types of figures (e.g. a histogram vs a boxplot), the difference between a population and a sample, and z-scores.
In addition to that, here are some more basic statistical knowledge you should have:
- t-tests
- Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) - between-group designs w/ 2+ groups (usually at least 1 categorical IV and 1 numeric DV). Checks the means between 2+ groups using ind. t-tests. Pairwise (aka post-hoc) tests are conducted afterwards if you find any significance.
- Pearson’s correlation
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In research, there are also plenty of good and bad practices.
If you have any experience with reesearch and interpreting results, you will (quickly) learn that research can be condensed down to non/significant p-values (see basic statistics).
This is, of course, a gross-oversimplification, but a useful heuristic none-the-less.
And if you know anything about what it's like to be a researcher trying to get your papers published, then you will be aware of the bias against research with nonsignificant findings.
p-hacking
Other types of questionable research practices
Basic terms that you should get familiar with.
- Resume - standard is 1 page; any longer will risk the system/person reading it to completely discard it.
- CV - stands for "Cirriculum Vitae" (literally "course of life"); it is a summary of a person's career, qualifications, and education. In the context of research, this includes everything from conferences they've presented at, publications in which they were an author of, grants recieved (amount of money included), etc. Unlike a resume, a CV can--and should!--be long.
- Reference letter -
- Cold emailing - the practice of writing an email to
- PI - stands for "Principle Investigator"; this will usually be the professor/s in charge of the lab, but it can also just be the main researcher of the project.
- FA - stands for "Faculty Advisor";
- RA - stands for "Research Assistant"; usually RAs are (unpaid) positions for undergraduates. RAs do a lot of grunt work in the lab.
- h-index - a score and a shorthand method of representing the overall impact a particular researcher has in their field. An h-index of 5, for example, means that the researcher has published at least 5 papers that have been cited at least 5 times each. See this link for a more indepth definition.
- Literature review - an analysis of a topic through the findings of past research. A good lit review will also synthesize
- Meta-analysis - an analysis of past research
- Peer-review - (in context of published research)
Getting Started
Depending on where you currently are in your life, there are some things you can do to make yourself a better applicant and/or prepare for your future in research.
General tips (IMPORTANT!!):
- Do your research before you contact the lab/person of your interest.
- Skim their CV/profile/lab webpage. You should know a general gist of what they are interested in, what they've done, and what they will be doing.
Undergraduate
Your biggest priority should be to get into a lab and become an RA (research assistant). The sooner the better. Here are the (practical) reasons why:
- The longer you stay in a research lab (and express consistant interest/enthusiasm), the more likely you will get more responsibilities (and thus transferrable skills) that will help you later on.
- The longer you stay in a research lab the better the reccommendation letter your PI or graduate student mentor can write for you. A closer relationship also means that they can advocate for you.
- Showing loyalty is a good thing. Most positions that you will apply to in the future have a minimum year contract (i.e. you will be required to work under a lab for at least x amount of years).
Here are some ways you can get into a lab:
- Go to your professor's office hours and ask about oppertunities.
- Cold email the lab manager/graduate students (because chances are, your professor is busy enough that they might miss your email or just not reply).
- Network with other students. Ask around if anyone knows any labs that are currently open.
Alright, so now what? Maybe you've already gotten your Bachelor's, or maybe you're going to be graduating soon, or maybe you're preparing early (good on you). There are a couple of options for you depending on where you want to go with your research. Do you want to go into academia? Into industry?