Research is … slow. If you asked me what I would be doing today, July 26th, then I first applied to the Brackenridge Fellowship, I would have told you that I’d be testing participants and collecting data. What am I really doing today? Still developing experimental stimuli and preparing my Institutional Review Board (IRB) application. I was definitely a bit ambitious with how much I wanted to get done this summer.
I learned just how much goes into developing a full-fledged study with human subjects. My experience with that realm of research has been limited to “Methods” sections of journal articles and anecdotes from the grad students in my lab. Actually doing it myself is a different beast. I suppose it makes sense, though. It is important to develop a study that is valid and actually testing what you want to test and will yield significant, relevant results. I just didn’t know there were so many checks and balances for getting there.
The most valuable thing I learned in the Fellowship, which may seem silly, is how to design an experiment. You may think that of course I already know how to do that, I wrote a good research proposal to even be in this fellowship. In fact, I have written many proposals that have been deemed ‘acceptable.’ What I quickly realized, though, was that having an idea fleshed out enough to write a convincing proposal is nowhere near how developed it must be to actually do the experiment. Revising and specificizing research questions; developing stimuli; coding the experimental tasks—all of these are much more meticulous tasks than I anticipated.
Like I said, I thought I would be done with all of that by now. Fortunately, it seems like most of us aren’t where we thought we would be. Research is slow! And that’s totally fine. This is supposed to be a learning experience, right?
Another valuable part of this learning experience has been the insights given to me by my advisor, Natasha Tokowicz. She has had to reign me in multiple times as I started solidifying my project. I either wanted to test too many variables or jump steps in study design. Natasha helped me approach such a big task methodically and in a way that set me up most for success. She taught me an enumerable amount. To name a few: how to approach the IRB application, how to design an item optimal for probing my research question, and how to believe in my idea.
So now, what’s next? As always, great question. I still proclaim that I am on track for an MD-PhD program. However, as I have dived into research over the course of the Fellowship, the calling to research has grown. I have started toying with the idea of applying straight to grad school this fall rather than taking some gap years before med school. I think I may apply if I have time to develop a few applications. Never a bad idea to open up a door, even if you don’t walk through it.