Our research lab publishes dozens of papers every year to promote projects in our field of research. Among these papers are studies detailing our lab’s findings from online interviews with voluntary participants.

We would like to collaborate with students to support our interview process by assisting in data collection and verification of results. This will provide us with prepared datasets that are ready for further analysis.

This will involve several different steps for the students, including:

• Familiarizing themselves with interview procedures and participating in training activities.
• Assisting researchers in contacting participants and setting up interviews.
• Recording, organizing, and storing results according to conventions.
• Verifying that data is recorded accurately.
• Cleaning data to ensure consistency and usability.
• Suggesting new research questions or modifications to improve the interview process.

By the end of the project, students should demonstrate:

• Understanding of the project and interview process
• Documentation and organization of data
• Verification of data accuracy

Bonus steps would include:

• Cleaning data for future analyses
• Suggesting improvements to the interview procedure

Final deliverables should include

• A final report.

Students will connect directly with us for mentorship throughout the project. We will be able to provide answers to questions such as:

• Our research projects
• Current understanding of our field of research
• Input on choices, problems or anything else the students might encounter.

In order to complete this project, students can self-teach, but it is beneficial to be familiar with:

• Research ethics
• Quantitative versus qualitative data collection methods

Nice to haves for students include

• Knowledge of data collection tools like Microsoft Excel
• Knowledge of online meeting tools like Skype, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom

Again, students can complete this project without any of the prior knowledge listed here. Students will be expected to research and learn more about the above as the project goes along.

We can provide students with:

• A walkthrough / tutorial of the experimental procedure and data collection tools
• Ethics training