Department of Psychology at Illinois State University
In contrast to many colleges and universities, faculty at Illinois State maintain a strong commitment to undergraduate instruction and mentoring. Every semester undergraduate students work with department faculty in their research labs. Any research conducted in the Department of Psychology must comply with the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct of the American Psychological Association.
To obtain research experience, students enroll in PSY 290 Special Projects: Research Apprenticeship. This course gives students credit for working in a faculty member's research lab. Students learn valuable skills such as working as a team, collecting and managing data, and interacting with research participants. PSY 290 can be repeated for up to nine hours, so students can participate in several research projects or work more in depth in one faculty member's research laboratory.
Students should review the Faculty Research Interests website. Most Psychology faculty have developed individual Web sites that describe opportunities for students to participate in research projects. Students should also review the Research Opportunities website for a current list of faculty research Web sites. Students should contact individual faculty members to find out if they have positions available for research apprenticeships.
After a research plan has been developed, the student and faculty member should complete the PSY 290 Special Projects: Research Apprenticeship Contract. Click on the link to download the contract to the computer. The contract is an interactive Microsoft Word document that should be completed on the computer. If necessary, the contract can be saved and sent as an e-mail attachment to the faculty member. All sections of the contract should be completed before it is printed, signed, and dated by the student and faculty member. The signed contract should be submitted to the department for approval. If the contract is approved, the department will also approve an override so that the student can register for PSY 290. It could take one to three weeks for the contract to be approved and the override processed before students can register for PSY 290. Students must register for the specific number of credit hours identified in the contract; otherwise, the registration will not be complete. If the contract is approved after the first week of the semester, students must register for the course in 107 Moulton.
Another opportunity for psychology majors to participate in research is by enrolling in PSY 390 Advanced Research Apprenticeship. Completing both PSY 290 (for three hours) and PSY 390 with the same faculty member fulfills the capstone requirement for the Major in Psychology. In PSY 390, students typically have more responsibility for specific aspects of the faculty member's research project. Students interested in this research opportunity should review the Capstone Experiences website.