Independent Study Course

NESC/PSYO3000 or NESC/PSYO3001

Heather and Christina are collaborating on this section (slowly completing it).

What is the Independent Study Course?

If you're looking to gain some honours-like research experience in your 3rd or 4th year, this may be the course for you! It can be completed in one OR two semesters. If you are interested in doing an independent research project, set up a meeting with Aaron to chat about it in advance. You will talk about the course in general and decide whether 1 semester or the full year course is right for you. You will also decide what project you would like to work on and Aaron will write up a letter and a syllabus for you. This needs to be sent off to the course coordinator after you both sign it.

If the project is a new project to the lab, be prepared to submit a proposal to the Research Ethics Board (REB). This takes a lot of work but is also great experience for you if you are considering a future in research! You will also become very familiar with the project this way. The process of submitting to the REB is very long and requires edits after they review your submission. Start this early if this applies to you. If you will be working on a project that already has REB protocol in place, you do not need to worry about submitting an application.

Regardless of the status of your REB application, everyone must complete a Tri-Council Policy Statement: Course on Research Ethics (TCPS: CORE). This is an online tutorial that must be completed by any researcher that works with human participants. This course takes approximately 2-3 hours to complete and you will receive a certificate upon completion of the modules.

Written Component of the Course

If you are doing the full year course, you are responsible for writing a full APA formatted paper. This includes an abstract, introduction, method, results, discussion and references. Each month, a draft is due for a section and you are responsible for addressing the comments made on the previous section. If you are completing this course in only one semester you are responsible for writing an annotated bibliography and an APA formatted paper, without the discussion section. You will need to complete an abstract, introduction, method, results and references. Drafts are due approximately every one to two weeks. Just like the full year course, each new draft should address the comments made on the previous drafts and any new sections that need to be added. There will be lots of comments, but don't panic, they are very helpful and are improving your writing skills! Make sure to check out Submitting papers to Aaron for review for more information about submitting your drafts.

Once you submit your final draft to Aaron, he will send a copy of the paper and your final grade to the course coordinator.

Lab Time

This course is designed to give you some hands-on research experience, so naturally, time spent in the lab is crucial to your success with this project. You will be expected to spend at least 4 hours working in the lab each week. This time may include collecting data from participants, analyzing data, or working on any number of necessary tasks for your study. How much time you spend in the lab, and how you spend that time, differs from project to project, so make sure you discuss these expectations with Aaron and/or anyone else you may be working with on this project.

Additionally, you will be expected to attend weekly lab meetings, as long as they do not conflict with your class schedule. Each week, the lab meets for a "Nuts and Bolts meeting", where we give updates on ongoing projects, and share plans for the upcoming week. We also have journal-club-style meetings each week where lab members present and discuss interesting papers and research. This time can also be used to present one's own research.

Recruitment

If you are working on a study that is actively collecting data from human participants, you may be involved in recruiting individuals. If you are recruiting fellow undergraduate students, this may involve putting posters up around campus or advertising your study on SONA. SONA is Dalhousie's experimental participation system, in which students can participate in research at Dalhousie and earn credits towards their final grades in certain Psychology and Neuroscience courses. Students may also be compensated in cash for their participation in certain studies, or if they are not in any courses that collect SONA points.

**Heather can you talk about recruiting participants for your study (i.e. not Dal students)

Data Analysis

Data analysis differs depending on what type of research you are conducting. For a full year project, you will likely have some data to analyze as you will have likely collected data from some participants. However, if you are completing the project in one semester, you may not have collected any data, or you may only have data from one or two participants. If you have not collected any data, you can still write a results section about how the data would be presented and analyzed in the future.

For more information about how to do specific types of data analyses and statistical analyses, visit the section on Data Analysis.

Final Thoughts

This course is a great way to gain useful insights into how research is conducted and ways to strengthen your academic writing skills - so take advantage of this great opportunity! Ask lots of questions and try to learn from the feedback you receive. This is a great way to prepare for a future honours project, or research following your undergrad.