How to get involved?

For undergraduate students at the University of Washington, we have four research assistant (RA) levels: co-pilot, contributor, scholar, and leader. Generally, students start out as co-pilots or contributors, but experienced students may be allowed to jump into a scholar role. If interested in working with us, you can fill out this application from to apply. Or, if interested in a research capstone, please email Spencer Williams directly at sw1918@uw.edu.

If you're interested in doing a PhD, you should apply directly through the iSchool website. However, you're more than welcome to reach out if you have any questions about our work, lab culture, etc.

Roles at the PULSE Lab

Note that these roles are now reflected in the iSchool's Research in the iSchool page

Are you interested in trying out research, but don't have any background? Co-pilots are members of the lab that can help out whenever they want, without a minimum number of hours per week. They are generally assigned to a specific project, but are free to move between projects if they want. Co-pilots...

Can attend lab meetings and project group meetings.
Require no prior experience with research
Are perfect for those who want to try out research in a low-stakes way.
Can be volunteer or for-credit (roughly 3 hours per week, 1-2 credits)

Requirements

Excited to learn about academic research!
Proactive and engaged

Contributors are lab members with a longer-term stake in the lab. They are active members of a project team, helping out with data collection, literature review, or analysis. Contributors are expected to devote more hours to the lab, in order to gain the experiences and skills that would be expected from a seasoned lab member. Contributors...

Regularly attend lab and group meetings.
Contribute to data collection, analysis, literature review, and/or writing.
Are perfect for those who want develop their research skills further.
Can be volunteer or for-credit (roughly 4-6+ hours per week, 2-3 credits)

Requirements

Basic competence in at least one data collection or analysis method. Expectations vary project-to-project, but would generally include knowledge of a specific method or methodology such as: semi-structured interviewing, survey design, experimental design, qualitative coding, thematic analysis, frequentist statistics, or systematic literature review.
Comfortable reading and digesting academic papers, especially those related to the project area

Scholars are experienced students, who have a deep knowledge of the project and its requisite research skills. Scholars are able to self-direct research work, and can even manage meetings and mentor newer students to the project. Scholars almost always register for credit; doing research at this level is a similar time commitment to taking a class. Scholars...

Help plan and manage regular meetings.
Help mentor new lab members.
Contribute to discussions about new project directions.
Can be volunteer or for-credit (roughly 6-8+ hours per week, 2-3 credits)

Requirements

Competence with each data collection and analysis method regularly used in a project. For example, if the study involves qualitative interviewing using thematic analysis, they should understand the full “pipeline”, from conducting interviews, to transcription, to coding, to generating themes. Basically, scholars should be able to meaningfully contribute to every stage of a given project
Ability to conduct literature reviews (finding relevant papers, reading, and summarizing them) related to their project
Can accurately describe the theory and motivation behind their project
Basic knowledge of academic paper writing. Scholars should understand how to read and structure such papers.
Comfortable mentoring newer students, leading group meetings when called on, and assisting with recruitment (e.g. interviewing new group members)

This role is for students who want to “own” a project, with work approaching the capacity of a 1st-year masters or PhD student. This role is usually reserved for students with 1-2+ years of previous research experience, who are comfortable taking initiative, mentoring junior students, and managing their team. Project leaders will define and lead their own projects.

Note that if you are doing a research capstone (INFO 493), you would be working at this level.

Leaders...

Take charge of planning and managing group meetings
Regularly contribute to most or all aspects of a project, including data collection, analysis, literature review, and/or writing/communicating results
Write (or substantially contribute to) papers that come out of their projects. Leaders will generally be lead author or co-author on these papers.
Mentor co-pilots, contributors, and scholars, helping co-pilots onboard to the project, contributors build their research skills and contribute, and scholars practice managing the larger project
Contribute to discussions about new project directions
Can be volunteer or for-credit (roughly 6-8+ hours per week, 3-4 credits)

Requirements

Same research competencies as scholars (i.e. "Full stack" knowledge of a project)
Ability to identify good research questions (with supervision/advising)
Ability to design research studies to answer those research questions (with supervision/advising)
Basic competency with project management, mentoring, leading meetings, and recruiting new group members
Comfortable serving as lead author on a research paper (with heavy supervision/advising)

Research capstones (INFO 493) at the PULSE Lab?

I (Spencer) want to write a bit about my perspective on research capstones. I often have students reach out to do them with me, so I'm going to compile my thoughts here. I think research capstones can be a fantastic opportunity for students who want a career in research, go to grad school, etc. I also think jumping into a research capstone without any prior research experience is big risk, and usually something I discourage. Below are my thoughts/advice, in FAQ form:

Should I do a research capstone? Sure, if you like research I say go for it! In particular, if you want a career in research (e.g., you want to do a PhD at some point) a research capstone is probably a better option than practical or intensive capstone. For capstone in general, pick the option that will help show off your skills the best.

What does a research capstone at the PULSE Lab look like? I like to treat research capstones as mini-theses. You should have a research question that excites you, and your capstone will involve study design, data collection, analaysis, and a report. It will be much smaller in scope than a full, publishable research paper, but it will have a similar "shape" as an original research project.

Can I do a research capstone in one quarter? I don't think this is a good idea. Even at this scale, research is slow. It can take weeks, if not months, to come up with a good research question, let alone the design, data collection, analysis, and writing. I don't think it's possible to produce anything good in one quarter, and since the point of capstone is to generate something that really shows off your skills, I don't think it's wise to try. I recommend at least two quarters, with a little bit of time before the first quarter to brainstorm project directions.

Can I do a research capstone if I haven't done research before? No, at least not with me. For practical capstone (which I also teach), we usually advice against learning too many new skills at once. Capstone is meant to show off the skills you've spent your degree learning, not to learn something new necessarily.

Are there pre-requisites to doing a research capstone at the PULSE Lab? For research capstone, I expect students to be working at the scholar level, more or less (see above). That means knowing how to do a literature review, knowing about the data collection and analysis methods you're likely to use, understanding what it means to ask a good research question, and knowing a bit about academic paper writing.

I've read this FAQ, and I still want to do a research capstone. What next? You can email me (sw1918@uw.edu) and ask! In the email, let me know what your background with research is, why you want to work with me in particular, and what research directions you're interested in.