What is psychology research?
Research is the systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions (from the Oxford American Dictionary). Psychology research seeks to understand the mind and behaviour. This can range from exploring how the human auditory system perceives sounds, to how hormones influence memory. Who can do research? You! What does doing a research project involve? A research project involves generating a hypothesis or research question, and then testing that hypothesis or research question by doing an experiment. Your experience will be very different from lab to lab. You will work under the supervision of a professor, post-doc, or graduate student. Your degree of supervision, independence, and interaction with other students will vary with the lab. You could work on a project that is already going on in the lab or you could come up with your own project. Your role might involve any or all of the following: doing literature reviews,
