How to do Research in High School[1] [2] [3]
Now you have learned the basics of research and would like to know how you can apply these concepts to do research in high school. Research comes in many forms, it doesn’t always involve working in the laboratory, solving life altering medical mysteries or unraveling complicated scientific concepts. Research simply means to be curious, to ask questions and look for answers to those questions. Research can be done at the least on a very fundamental level, sitting in your house, as long as you have the desire to dig deep, look for answers and provide a rationale behind those answers.
For students interested in health care, the most popular research fields would involve research in biology, chemistry, genetics, immunology, cancer research and related topics in the medical field. Some fields of research are more accessible than others, but if you try harder to find research in the area of your particular interest, it is not entirely impossible to find those opportunities.
The first step in this direction would be to find the topic of research that directly relates to the field you want to explore or purse further in your academic career. Try to choose research topics related to current health care trends or concepts anticipated to become the norms in the future or topics of academic relevance. Choosing a research topic wisely will allow you to stand out on your resume and open doors for further research opportunities.
Although there are many ways to pursue research in high school, two categories are the most accepted ways to follow your research dreams:
1) Joining a Research Team
2) Doing an Independent Research Project
Joining a Research Team
The easiest way to get involved in research as a high schooler is to join an existing research project. Most of the institutions and universities requires faculty members and professors to conduct research and publish it as a part of their job description. These universities have labs and established processes for conducting research. Not every college or university supports high school research but, they are a great place to start looking.
In addition to colleges and universities, commercial and private labs are also a great alternative to get involved in research projects. Not very often, but sometimes these private labs do offer internship opportunities. Even places like hospitals and government institutions can be option to find existing research projects where can you be allowed to participate.
Once you have identified the area or topic of research in the field of your interest, next step would be to identify, the institution or universities conducting research on those topics. Try to locate the professors or graduate students conducting research studies on your area of your interest and finally you need to reach out to them in a very professional demeanor, asking if you can be a part of their research project. We have an entire section dedicated to the topic on “how to reach out to professors when trying to get involved in research”.
Hoping you are lucky enough to get few offers from the professors, then you can compare them against one another to see which projects fits your needs the best. You can consider some of these criteria mentioned below to help in decision making process:
· Funding for the project: The information on the research funding is most often available for public information and can be found in the databases from NIH, university or other appropriate funding body for that field. Looking into the funding of the research project allows you to know the long-term prospects and credibility of that study. Are they offering you any stipend or pay to participate in the research?
· Research team dynamics: How many people are involved in the research project and how big is the research study? Is there a professor, graduate student, staff etc. that is willing to mentor you and provide assistance with your research. Is the environment in the lab conducive to learning and promotes healthy work flow?
· Lab’s past research projects and publications: What type of past research projects that lab has worked on. How many of those were published in reputable journals? What type of future research studies that lab plans to participate in. Will they include your name and contributions in the research publications?
· Future options: Are there possibilities for future research options for you, will that lab offer better connections and resources down the road for you. Are they willing to write a letter of recommendation or provide reference if needed.
Hopefully, you have landed the research project of your dreams, now comes the hard work and dedication. Start your research experience with the mind set of learning, absorbing and contributing as much as you can to the project. When you first start the work at the lab, your tasks are going to be very elementary and repetitive. You will not start with a high-level experiment right away, but rather learn by observing, following the research team and your mentor and learning the actual research process and methodologies involved. Remember research means “curiosity”. Ask questions and try to find answers to those questions, provide your perspective based on sound rationale backed by evidence and science.
Hopefully with more experience and time you will be allowed to conduct more hands-on experiments and be able to record and analyze your data and come up with a conclusion to your own research.
Be sure to thank and show your gratitude to your mentor and research team after the end of your internship. Researchers and professors are often busy people, you need to acknowledge and appreciate their mentorship, effort and time spent during the internship.
Doing an Independent Research Project
For some people, joining a designated research team seems an easier and more structured way to go about doing your research. You draw benefits from working in an established environment, easy access to resources, lab and mentorship along with options for peer review and publications.
But not everyone can be in a position to land a research internship at a designated research project or work under a mentorship of a professor. There could be myriad reasons for that, location, lack of research internships or established projects in your area, not finding a right fit or simply no dedicated time to participate in an ongoing research project.
For some, doing independent research may be a more feasible solution to feeding your intellectual curiosity and to pursue the goal of conducting your own research experiment. Just because you do not have access to lab, mentorship or resources does not mean that research cannot be done. Often Independent researchers are difficult to do due to limited resources, limited knowledge, tend to be smaller in the scope and scale when compared to designated research studies, but they can still turn out to be quite meaningful and contributory to the scientific community.
The ultimate goal of any research, be a designated study or independent research is to get published or get acknowledgement in some reputable journal or peer reviewed. Getting published or peer reviewed allows your research to gain more credibility and acceptance in the world of science. Some Independent research projects can be showcased in the science fairs, science competitions or even presented to professors at the universities for peer review and verifications.
What do we mean by an independent research study?
Independent research study simply means a thorough investigation into a scientific topic or academic question. Scientific discovery is open to all, you need no permission to come up with your own question, design your own experiment and execute it. You do not even need a prior research experience, but rather motivation and desire to dig deep and strive to find answers to your questions. Independent research study can be different for different fields but they all have one thing in common, they all involve a systematic approach to answering a question. It could be as simple as doing a thorough literature review or design and conduct your experiment.
Some fundamental aspects of independent research study involve following steps:
· Coming up with a scientific question and analyzing that question.
· Use established evidence-based methods to answer those question, meaning backed by science.
· Do a comprehensive literature review and dig deep into scientific research.
· After completion of your research, think about writing a paper, prepare an academic or poster presentation or similar ways to share your research
· Find a mentor or expert in that field to review, verify or to provide credibility to your research or simply try to submit it for publication.
What the advantages of doing an Independent Research project?
Doing an independent research project is a sure shot way to showcase your academic excellence, it shows your drive and motivation to go above and beyond the norm. It is easy to become a part of established research program or internship. But it is a daunting prospect to carve your own research path, to come up with an academic research question, reaching out for mentorship and reviewing process, and finally seeking a publication for your research. It is what differentiates ordinary from extra-ordinary.
There are severe other advantages to doing independent research:
1) It looks good on your college resume, shows the drive to excel and think outside the box. Colleges loves kids who engage in research at the early high school level. They love to see what you have accomplished and how your research ties in with your future academic interest. They love to see how you think, how you create and how you succeed in your project. They are looking for leaders, pioneers, and thinkers. Taking on an independent research study establishes your initiative skills and your desire to purse a cause and seek answers.
2) It allows you to explore the area of your interest. If you are passionate about a certain topic or have keen interest in particular area of study, doing a research project tied to that topic is great way to gain in-depth understanding of that topic. For example. As a high schooler if your subject of interest is social work. You can do an independent research project to gauge what attributes motivate high schoolers to participate in social work and humanitarian causes at the early level. You can conduct your own research study by conducting interview, having students fill out questionnaires or even having teachers share their personal experiences. You can search online resources to read more into the general disposition of a high schooler in relation to social work. You can then put together your proposals to champion these causes at the high school level and perhaps even allow other high schoolers to get involved in early social work.
All in all, whatever is your area of interest, you will learn more by doing an independent research project and figure out if that topic of research would be something you would like to explore more in your academic career.
How to build an Independent Research Project?
There are few steps involved in building a successful independent research project.[1] [2] [3]
Step 1: Identify a research question based on your area or topic of interest:
This is the most significant step in the whole process of starting your independent research project.
· Choose a topic you are passionate about. Remember this is the topic you will be reading, researching, and writing for hours, it should be a subject that you are enthusiastic about.
· Try to get as specific regarding your research questions as you can, instead of just keeping it broad. It allows you to perform on more in-depth research and helps achieve your goals.
· Also consider choosing a question based on current healthcare or market trends or concepts that are promising to become a norm in the future. It is important that the topic should be of academic relevance.
· The question that you have chosen should be researchable, you should have access to the resources to research your questions.
· Choose something that you would like to pursue academically and professionally.
· To narrow your interest, it is advisable to read extensively on that field, including books, online articles, and research publications. You can research popular and current books on that topic of interest, also take notes of which citations and researchers get mentioned, so you can look them up further to get more insight and information on your topic of interest.
· A good research topic seeks an answer to a difficult question using data, academic sources, and critical thinking.
· Ask these questions: what the impact on my research paper on myself and my community?
Step 2: If possible, find a mentor:
It can be valuable to get some mentorship or guidance from the experts in the field of your topic of interest.
· You can reach out to a local college professor, explaining your research project and ask if they would be willing to mentor you, providing guidance or if nothing else can they peer review your work and provide feedback. Make sure they are the experts in that field and willing to work with you.
· You can also look up ongoing research works by professors and graduate students within a local college or university and get indirect guidance and answers through their published work.
· You can join online forums for young researchers and consider starting a blog to discuss your research experience and findings.
· Another common way to pursue research is by utilizing resources and teachers in your high school. This is usually the easiest way to get some mentorship as resources are readily available and teachers maybe more willing to advise you and provide helpful feedback.
· Additionally, if your school provides credit for independent studies, it would be ideal for a teacher in that subject to be your advisor.
Step 3: Conduct your research:
Of course, this is the next step in the research process. Now you have your question and hopefully a mentor, start the actual work. Few ways you can go about doing your research.
· Extensive literature review. Got to search for the answers on reputable research databases and online resources. Look for answers in books, published papers and research forums.
· Conduct your experiment, record the data, analyze, and interpret your data. Start writing your results.
· You can conduct your research via interviews, questionnaires, or surveys.
· There is lot of online information available to guide you on how to perform specific research based on your criteria and research questions.
Step 4: Write your Research paper:
Now you have completed you research, and it is time to write your research paper to present the results or conclusions of your study to the world. It is good to follow a template or follow a structure used by professors and other researchers in the past, doing similar type of research projects. Your research paper should comply with the acceptable research standards, elucidate your research findings clearly and as concisely as possible.[3]
An outstanding high school research paper should include following elements when presenting their work:
· Title: This should include your research project title, name, and institution. You may be required to add more information based on the nature of your research project and preference of your mentor.
· Introduction: An introduction summarizes your goals for the project. How do you plan to do your research, expected roadblocks in your research and if any solutions you predict for those roadblocks.
· Literature review: This shows all the theories and sources on which your research project is based. You should quote all the online resources, books, publications, research papers etc. that you consulted during your research study. All the citations should be formatted properly, and only credible sources should be cited.
· Research methodology: This section shows what type of research design, methods, sampling procedures, statistical tools, data collection methods etc. were used.
· Data analysis: This is a very crucial part of your paper. You are supposed to analyze the data collected during your research project, explain what methods were used to collect and interpret your data and what objective measures you plan to use to present your data.
· Results: This is where you interpret the results of the data collected from your experiments or study. You need to clearly state the results of your study along with any shortcoming encountered or any other implications related to your study.
· Conclusion: This is where you conclude how successful you were in answering your research question, were your goals met, was the experiment successful and produced desired results or the results were totally unexpected and changed the whole outlook on your proposed research hypothesis.
· Reference page: Here is where you cite the academic sources, journals, publications etc. you consulted throughout your research project. You can use different citation formats based on the preference of your advisor like the Modern Language Association (MLA) or Chicago Manual Of Style (CMSOS).