Research Courses  

Undergraduate research courses

PSY 485 and PSY 486C partner you with a faculty member and allow you to either be a part of faculty research or provide you with a mentor for your own research project.  Conducting research will give you abilities and skills that employers and graduate programs seek.

In these courses, you will find that psychology faculty researchers:

  • investigate a variety of important topics
  • utilize a variety of methodologies
  • involve diverse participant populations
  • employ many different kinds of research designs

You can observe, collaborate, and learn from these researchers. 

Requirements

Students must have:

  • a 3.0 or higher GPA to enroll in PSY 485
  • successfully completed PSY 101 or 101H, and PSY 230
  • successfully completed or be currently taking PSY 302W

Course credit and time commitment

Research is time consuming, intensive, and hard work.  It is also very rewarding;  these courses will give you a jump start on graduate school and a career in psychology.  

You’re permitted to sign up for 1-3 credit hours of PSY 485 a semester, with a total of 6 credit hours counting toward the Psychology major.  One credit hour comes with at least three hours of additional work.

  • 1 credit hour=3 hours per week
  • 2 credit hours=6 hours per week
  • 3 credit hours=9 hours per week

Selection criteria include:

  • GPA
  • schedule
  • interests
  • commitment (i.e., many faculty prefer it if students are able to stay with the research project for two subsequent semesters)
  • availability (faculty mentors prefer and/or require their research
    students be available for chunks of time throughout the week for weekly lab meeting, data collection, and other research work)

If you want to work with a specific faculty member, we encourage you to contact the professor individually expressing your interest. For a list of faculty interests click here.

We will attempt to match you with a faculty member of your choice, however, it is not always possible as there are a limited number of slots available to work on various research projects. Please be aware that the general skills acquired in 485 are more important to preparation for graduate school than topic of research.

Apply now

Follow these steps:

  • Submit your unofficial university transcript (.pdf preferred) to psy485@nau.edu.