Undergraduate Research in Psychology

To conduct psychological research, you will need a faculty research sponsor in the department.

The best way to find a faculty research sponsor is to determine if there are there any current faculty who share your research interests. You can locate more information about faculty research interests and current research by visiting a faculty member’s homepage. Pay special attention to the faculty member’s introduction video - you will hear more details about the faculty member’s interests and projects as well as the faculty member’s specialty area of emphasis.

Once you find a faculty member who aligns with your interests, feel free to reach out to them via email. Keep in mind that opportunities to serve as an undergraduate research assistant are based on space available in a faculty member’s research lab. It is best to contact faculty early each academic year to inquire about serving on their research team and to be mindful that space may be limited. Please see below for more information on expectations and commitments before contacting a faculty member to serve as your research sponsor.  

The field of psychology is vast and there are many things that can be researched. If you are unsure and/or undecided about your research interests or the types of projects you might conduct, try these things:

• Visit with faculty in the department about their research and possible opportunities to assist with their research projects. 
• Explore resources provided on the Department of Psychology webpage. Start here.
• Read research articles relevant to areas you find interesting to narrow your research focus.

Students who are conducting undergraduate research with a faculty research sponsor can earn course credit toward their degree by enrolling in PSY 474 (Independent Study). To be eligible to complete this course, you must have current faculty research sponsor and permission from the department to enroll. If you are interested in completing PSY 474, please visit with your faculty research sponsor.  

It is expected that if you join a research team that you will be committed for at least two semesters. Research is a long process and being committed to a research project for at least a year (~2 semesters) will allow an opportunity for you to be involved in all areas of research including project design, data collection and analyses, and dissemination of the findings.

Depending on the research project and your faculty sponsor’s expectations, research can take up to 5 hours of your time per week. Before committing to be a research assistant, you want to be sure that you can balance the workload demands with your coursework and other commitments.

Faculty have worked with undergraduate students on a wide variety of research topics. Below are some examples of those topics:

• Artificial Intelligence
• Conflict management in relationships
• Dark Triad (Machiavellianism, Psychopathy, and Narcissism)
• Forgiveness
• Mental health stigma
• Microaggressions
• Mindfulness and stress reduction
• Misophonia
• Prosocial behavior in children and adolescents
• Trauma in children and adults

Students have opportunities to travel with faculty to present their research at local, regional, and national conferences. Attending a conference is a wonderful way to practice your presentation skills and network with others in the field. Below is a list of conferences that students have attended with a faculty sponsor.

• Great Plains Psychology Conference
• Judgment and Decision Making (JDM)
• Midwestern Psychological Association (MPA)
• National Association of School Psychologists (NASP)
• Psychological and Educational Research in Kansas (PERK)
• Rocky Mountain Psychological Association (RMPA)
• Society for Personality and Social Psychology (SPSP)
• Southwestern Psychological Association (SWPA)
• Scholarly and Creative Activity Days (SACAD) at FHSU

Students can also work with their faculty research sponsor to publish their research in peer-reviewed journal. Below is list of journals in which FHSU undergraduate students have recently published their work.

• Academic Leadership Journal in Student Research
• Journal of Psychological Inquiry
• Journal of Scientific Psychology
• Psychological Reports