Research Assistantship for Undergraduates
Did you know that psychology majors can work as a research assistant for a professor's lab and receive major credit for it? Read below to learn more about how you can get involved.
Frequently Asked Questions about Research
- What is research?
- Simply put, research is the process of discovering new knowledge using systematic processes.
- What does psychology research look like?
- When people think of research, they might imagine test tubes, lab coats, and safety goggles but research looks completely different depending on the field and methods used.
Psychology researchers observe behaviors, conduct interviews, run surveys, analyze data sets, or use imaging tools to study how people think, feel, and act. - What would I be doing as a research assistant?
- This depends on which lab you would be working for. There are a wide range of tasks that students can be involved in depending on the needs and research focus of the lab. Some labs have students work on the hands-on aspect, like scheduling appointment sessions for participants, assisting with experiment procedures, and recording data. Other labs could have students work on literature review or visual coding. Reach out to the labs you're interested in to learn more about what their research assistants do on a day-to-day basis. Refer to Step 1 below to learn more about our labs and how to contact them.
- Should I get involved in research?
- Students often ask us if they are missing out on something by not being involved in research on campus. It's important to remember that you have limited time to commit to extracurriculars outside of the classroom and that time should be spent on activities that you not only enjoy, but support your specific professional/academic goals. This could be research, internships, student organizations, or volunteering. Don't feel like you have to do research if it doesn't interest you or align with your goals. If you're on the fence, you might consider questions like what aspects of research appeal to you and how does becoming a research assistant support your long-term career or graduate school plans? Sometimes you need to try it out to know if you like it. Ask the labs of your interest how many quarters they expect students to commit to being a research assistant. A 1-quarter commitment is perfect for a trial. You can also see if the lab is willing to organize a shadowing opportunity.
- What else can I do beside research to get experience?
- If research does not interest you, there are many other ways to gain meaningful experience. Internships, part-time jobs, volunteering, student organizations, and leadership roles can all help you build skills and explore career interests. To get started, check out our Internships in Psychology (PSC 192) page.
- What can I do if I don't get into a research lab by the time I graduate?
- If you don't get accepted into a lab during your time at UC Davis, don't worry! It is very common and accessible for students to gain research experience after graduation. You can continue to reach out to the UC Davis psychology labs and even other departments for volunteer positions. If you don't plan to stay in Davis after you graduate, you can contact local universities and their academic departments for research assistant opportunities.
Research Application Resources
Undergraduate Research Center
Career Center
How to Get into a Research Lab
Follow the tips below to learn how to get involved with one of our psychology labs.
Step 1: Explore Our Labs
The Psychology Department conducts research in five major areas, but a lab may involve more than one field in their work for interdisciplinary study. Read below to get a brief overview of each area and identify 1-2 areas that you're interested in. Note the faculty members listed in each area.
- Developmental Psychology - explores the developing brain, children's psychological understanding, language, and social development
- Social and Personality Psychology - examines the affective, cognitive, socio-cultural, biological, and developmental underpinnings of human behavior, using a variety of methodological strategies.
- Biological Psychology - explores how biological processes and structures correlate with behavior and cognition
- Perception, Cognitive, and Cognitive Neuroscience - involves the study of awareness and thought, perception, learning, memory, and consciousness
- Quantitative - focuses on applied methods for the analysis of data resulting from psychological experiment and correlational studies
After you've identified 1-2 areas you would be interested working in, use our Psychology Research Labs page to learn more about the lab's that fall under each area. Make sure you select the Lab Website hyperlinks and look for the following. The headers will be titled differently for each lab so click around to explore.
- Principal Investigator - this is the faculty member who oversees the lab
- Graduate Students - these are graduate students who are working for the lab under the faculty member
- Publications - read the abstracts for the lab's publications to understand what kind of research they do
- Current Projects/Research - this section is extremely important to review because it will explain the research that you will likely be assisting with
Step 2: Look for Opportunities and Prepare to Apply
Looking for Opportunities
The process of finding opportunities for research assistantship can be scattered and overwhelming. Use the strategies below to find what you're looking for:
- Look directly on the lab's website - Some of the Psychology Labs will have a section on their website on how undergraduates can get involved. Look for keywords like Join, Get Involved, or Participate. If the information seems outdated or you can't find it, try contacting the PI or lab by email.
- Subscribe to the Yellow Cluster newsletter - Professors will often ask us to include lab openings in our Yellow Cluster newsletter. Subscribe here and view previous issues here
- Build connections with your psychology professors- Actively build professional relationships with your professors and teaching assistants by actively participating during class and attending office hours. However, you need to properly prepare yourself before engaging. Read about the professor's lab and publications so you can ask informed questions to demonstrate initiative and curiosity about their work. Develop an elevator pitch to succinctly share who you are and how your skills/experiences will serve you in a research assistantship. Most importantly, be genuine.
- Build connections with your teaching assistants and graduate students in the department - Teaching assistants and graduate students are often more accessible than professors and may have more time to talk with undergraduates about research opportunities. Because they are earlier in their academic careers, they may also better understand the undergraduate experience and can offer practical advice about getting involved in research. Attend discussion sections, ask thoughtful questions, and take advantage of office hours to build relationships and learn from their experiences.
- Reach out to other students who are undergraduate research assistants - If you know someone who is a research assistant, invite them for a conversation to learn more about their experiences. They might know about opportunities opening up or could connect you to the professor they work under.
- Cold email professors - Cold emailing is an accessible but intimidating method of identifying research opportunities. This strategy should be used when you are unable to find public information on how to get involved with a professors lab or if you haven't taken a course with them before. Take a look at our guide on the right on how to successfully cold email a professor.
Preparing to Apply
Labs will likely ask for a resume and a cover letter in their application. Refer to the resources on the right on how to create a resume and cover letter.
Step 3: Finalize Your Applications and Submit
Double Check Everything Before Your Apply
Double or even triple-check all of your application materials before submitting. Look for grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and formatting issues. This is the professor's first impression of you so it's vital you take every step to show your best self through your application materials. This will show the professor that you are detail-oriented, value accuracy, and care about these opportunities.
If you submitted an application...
After you submit your application(s), it can be nerve wracking while you wait to hear back. Professors juggle multiple responsibilities throughout the quarter and it can take a while for them to get back to you. It is acceptable to send a follow up email two weeks after your submission. If the professor or application instructions provided a timeline of when you'll hear back and you don't receive an update by the deadline, you can send a follow-up email a week later.
If you sent a cold email...
Be mindful and patient because professors receive tons of emails that they have to work through. You can send a follow-up email two weeks after your initial contact. Avoid sending too many follow-up emails if you don't receive a response. It's important to tell yourself that a non-response is not a reflection of your skills and abilities. Professors receive an extremely high number of emails and may not be able to respond to them all.
Step 4: Build Your Skills, Be Persistent, and Apply Again
It's extremely common to not receive a research opportunity on your first few attempts. Labs receive far more applicants than they can accept and decisions are influenced by a multitude of factors. Continue to apply, but use these strategies to improve your chances.
Become a Competitive Applicant
- Enroll in relevant coursework. Professors may prioritize students who have taken coursework related to their research and lab work. You can even elect to take a class from the professor whose lab you want to work in. This makes it easy to start building a professional connection with them as well.
- Engage in experiences. If you feel that your resume is sparse due to a lack of experience, start doing something about it now. You don't need a paid job opportunity to build your skills. Try volunteering or joining a student organization.
Revise Your Application Materials
- Send an updated resume and cover letter for subsequent applications. Ask yourself if you feel that your application materials truly reflect what you are able to offer to the lab. It's the first step of the candidate review process, and it can make or break you being able to make it to the next step.
- Ask a friend, co-worker, supervisor, family member, or professor to see if they can offer feedback on your application materials. Getting multiple opinions can let you know what is lacking in your application materials. Consider the feedback you receive and implement it for future applications.
- Utilize the Career Center's resume review services.
Practice Persistence and Try Again
- Don't give up. The persistence you build while applying to labs will serve you when you search for full-time work or apply for graduate school after receiving your undergraduate degree. It can be a long process, but it will eventually work out.
- Handle rejection without losing momentum. Rejection is a normal part of searching for opportunities, not a signal to stop trying. It's okay to give yourself time to feel disappointed, and to try again when you feel ready. Rejection can be utilized as a powerful source of feedback for future applications. It's appropriate to ask the professor if they would be willing to share areas of improvement.
Insight from Current Research Assistants
What do you currently do in your lab?
The current responsibilities in my main research lab are to extract data from research articles using specific criteria and to administer the participant data collection process. Last quarter, the research tasks were focused on organizing the articles that we are now extracting the data from. Other supplementary tasks that we do in my lab are reading the literature around our research topic and presenting our notes and reviews to our fellow RAs! This way, we can have discussions and learn from each other about the way studies are conducted and their findings.
What was it like for you when you were applying to research positions?
I started applying for research lab positions very early on in my undergraduate education through cold emailing but didn’t hear back from many until late into my first year. It especially was daunting to cold email because I didn’t have any prior research experience, but I applied anyway, expanding on my interest in the lab and other transferable skills which showed my enthusiasm to learn. Despite being faced with many challenges, I eventually did get into a research lab that I was excited about, and I think it gets easier when you’ve taken more courses within the subject, built more relationships with TAs and professors, and gained deeper experience within the field that you are trying to pursue.
What advice would you give someone who wants to become a research assistant?
My advice to students is to reach out to peers who are in research labs that you’re interested in and ask for a coffee chat because there are a lot of students who are willing to share resources and help others. I would also recommend that students apply or send cold emails, even when there isn’t an explicit opportunity available because you never know when an opportunity may arise or if there are internal openings that don’t show up on the lab’s website!
What do you currently do in your lab?
In some of my labs, we run experiments with participants to collect data with EEGs and coded programs while in others we analyze already collected data. The task you do in the lab depends on the progression of the lab project and the interests of the specific lab.
What was it like for you when you were applying to research positions?
I was fortunate enough to be able to gain my lab experiences through cold emailing. Through the emails, I stated how my interests aligned with the lab’s and how this experience could help me develop as an individual. Some labs have a more formal application process which requires answering questions in depth but it is always good to express your interest towards the lab through a simple email!
What advice would you give someone who wants to become a research assistant?
The process of applying to labs can be daunting, but it is always more beneficial for you to give it a try than to not try at all. Start by exploring the research labs available and gathering more information on those that interest you. Research labs are always recruiting new RAs, so be sure to be on the lookout!
What do you currently do in your lab?
My current responsibilities as an RA vary depending on the lab that I work in, but mainly it involves behavioral data collection and qualitative data coding. In terms of the data collection role, I am primarily involved with informing the student about the study they will be participating in (digital visual delay tasks, working memory and emotion tracking tasks, etc.), providing details regarding their consent form, administering the experiment using the specific software the lab uses (either Python or MATLAB), and issuing participation credit using the SONA platform. In the coding role, I focus on assigning meaning-based labels or codes to raw data collected from surveys using a data codebook. In addition to these tasks, I also participate in regular lab meetings where I meet with other RAs, the Principle Investigator, and other lab staff to discuss progress in studies, learn about others’ research experiences, and review prior literature in the cognitive psychology field to broaden our understanding of our findings.
What was it like for you when you were applying to research positions?
I initially struggled with gaining research positions as most of my cold emailing efforts and research assistant applications were either met with no responses or assurance for future contact when positions were available. However, I realized that most of these obstacles were because I was applying broadly and my outreach didn’t show intentionality or a “purpose”. Once I was able to narrow down and really solidify what I was truly interested in pursuing, looking for related positions through the Yellow Cluster website (lab-affiliation information) and cold emailing specific faculty and labs became much easier and brought about more research opportunities. Also communicating with Professors during office hours and really pitching my research interests in conversations and email made it more clear to both, myself and the faculty members about what I was planning on contributing towards and gaining from the potential experiences. I truly believe narrowing down your research interest to a certain area of PSC (or whichever discipline), researching labs in-depth, and really showcasing your interests through intentionally worded emails can really bring about a lot of research opportunities. Also, it is never too late to gain research experience, as a transfer student I felt that I was a little late to the research game, but there are a lot of labs and faculties that are willing to provide you with the opportunity to learn if you genuinely show interest!
What advice would you give someone who wants to become a research assistant?
Thoroughly research the labs (and faculty) you are applying to work in and with! You are able to gain an idea of what you will be able to contribute towards and gain experience in just by reading through certain sections of their lab websites. Also become familiar with the type of research articles that the lab produces. Not only is it a great way to lead conversations in RA interviews and lab discussions, but it also helps you become more knowledgeable of the methods, writing styles, and the overall focus of the research the lab conducts (can also be beneficial in some coursework!). If you are starting off and have absolutely no idea of which area in the field interests you, a good way to narrow down your interests is by taking coursework that sounds interesting to you and/or participating in the different major-related student clubs and organizations on campus. Talking to peers and researching alumni who have majored in the field you are pursuing can also help in gaining a perspective of different research focuses. Also talk to your TAs! Most of the time, research opportunities may come about once you build a connection with your TAs (who are usually graduate students that RAs typically work with and for). Subscribing to the YC Newsletter also helps as they provide information on labs/faculties both on-campus and off-campus who are looking for RAs (I got one of my RA positions this way!).