Cognitive Development Lab

Dr. Kelly Mix, director

© 2006-2007 College of Education,
Michigan State University
Board of Trustees.
MSU is an affirmative-action,
equal-opportunity institution.

last updated: February 16, 2007

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MSU Undergraduates interested in joining our lab

Assisting with research as an undergraduate is a great way to learn about a field of study from the ground up.  In traditional courses, you learn about studies that have already been done, published, and summarized in textbooks.  In a research lab, you get a chance to take part in the research process – from understanding the ideas and models driving the research, to making materials and recruiting participants, to collecting and processing data, and finally to sharing in some of the findings.

Most undergraduate students who work in our lab are interested in pursuing graduate work in developmental psychology, clinical psychology or counseling, school psychology, educational psychology, cognitive psychology, or another related field and want to know more about how to conduct research.  This experience allows you to see if this is indeed the type of work that interests you in the future and if you are ready to start your own lines of research as a graduate student.  Research experience also demonstrates to prospective graduate school advisors that you are interested in research and understand what it is all about.

In most cases, RAs assist with larger projects that are part of Dr. Mix's research program.  However, exceptional RAs may choose to do a project of their own as an Honors Thesis after they have been with us at least one semester.  RAs are involved in three main types of activities in our lab:

Data Collection.  The top priority for the lab is to obtain high-quality data that will eventually lead to peer-reviewed publications.  RAs are trained to assist with, or be responsible for, data collection on various projects.  This includes video taping young children in their homes for a naturalistic observation study of number concept development or assisting with materials, videotaping, and participant interviews for one of the experimental studies that take place in area preschools.  Through these experiences, RAs understand the data collection process for a study and see first hand some of the successes and frustrations involved in obtaining data.

Data Processing.  When RAs are not in area schools and homes assisting with data collection, they are in our lab space working to prepare for data collection or processing data that come in.  Before data collection begins, RAs are responsible for creating, obtaining, or organizing study materials, and assist with other organizational tasks involved with study preparation.  Once completed data return to the lab, RAs are integral in processing videotapes, entering raw data into databases, and using behavioral coding schemes to translate raw data into meaningful scales for analyses.  In this capacity, RAs learn about the preparation that is necessary before data collection begins, and the amount of processing that must happen before data are ready for analyses.

Professional Development.  A third component of the RA experience in our lab is professional development.  Most undergraduates are attracted to lab work as preparation for graduate school.  They are often gaining experience in research and learning about a specific field to help them decide the future course of their own studies.  RAs receive professional development both formally and informally.  We educate RAs on proper protocol when interacting with schools and participants in our studies.  We also hold regular lab meetings, during which RAs get to see decisions about study progress being made.  We set aside time during these meetings to discuss journal articles and have open forums about graduate school.

RAs receive course credit for an independent study through the psychology department for lab work.  We ask that RAs commit to at least 2 semesters at 3 credit hours per semester (9 hours of work per week).  As funding permits, we also offer hourly pay for lab work.