"If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?"

- Albert Einstein

The Child and Family Research Lab - Research Opportunities

Research opportunities are available at the undergraduate, master's, and doctoral level. Please read the appropriate section carefully to learn how you can participate in the Child and Family Research Lab, then click on the projects tab above to learn about current projects with research opportunities available.

Undergraduates

For undergraduates who wish to participate in current research projects, please see the link for current research opportunities to see a list of available positions. Then, students can choose to volunteer their participation to gain research experience, or, undergraduates can do research through the Child and Family Lab for credit in a Social Work 499 (Directed Reading and Research) course. If students choose this option, they will be given permission to enroll in SW499 for 3 credits and the experience will be graded, and show up on their academic transcript. For many majors, this course can count toward a required elective, but it is the student's responsibility to meet with their academic advisor to determine what requirements the SW499 might fulfill. SW499 may be repeated if an undergrad wishes to continue their relationship with the lab for longer than one semester, and wish to do so for credit. In rare circumstances, paid research positions may be available. Students in the Honor's Program seeking Honor's Thesis mentorship need to contact faculty directly.

Although project-specific details are available in the current research opportunities section, generally, students will gain experience in some of the following activities:

doing data entry, data coding, and data cleaning

doing basic library research

doing basic literature reviews and annotated bibliographies

Master's Students

For Social Work Master's students who wish to participate in current research projects, please see the link for current research opportunities to see a list of available positions. Students can choose to volunteer their participation to gain research experience, or, can do research through the Child and Family Lab for credit in a Social Work 743/744 (two semester independent research project) or 746 (one semester independent research project) course. These courses fulfill the concentration year research requirement. Prerequisite for enrolling in this independent project are the completion of SW640 and SW 650, along with other foundation year curriculum. Master's students outside of the school of social work can participate and receive credit for SW 699, which has no prerequisites, and may count toward program of study (please consult with academic advising to ascertain elective options). In rare circumstances, paid research positions or GSA positions may be available.

Although project-specific details are available in the current research opportunities section, generally, students will engage the following activities:

Being responsible for a piece of existing research, which they will take from inception to completion (this can be data collection, data mining, or data analysis)

Turning in a final report on their portion of the project for a grade

In rare cases, students with independent research project ideas that fit with the six themes of the Child and Family Research Lab may be able to present an independent research project idea outside of the open positions and request mentorship from lab faculty. However, students must:

Have a clear plan for how they will complete their project within the limits of the course requirements

Have a defined research plan, data source, and hypotheses

Be committed to a project that will results in publishable quality results

Doctoral Students

Doctoral students in the school of social work and in other departments are eligible to participate in the research opportunities in the Child and Family Lab. At this level, doctoral students are expected to make a substantial theoretical and academic contribution, as well as take on significant responsibility for projects within the lab. In return, doctoral students will also receive intensive mentorship from lab faculty, with the anticipation that this relationship may evolve into dissertation work and dissertation committee membership.

Doctoral students make take SW 699 for credit for their participation in the lab. Social work doctoral students, this fulfills their requirement for the Research Practicum. SW699 may be repeated for credit if participants wish to earn academic credits for their participation in the lab. In rare circumstances, paid research positions or GSA positions may be available.

Current Research Opportunities

There are four research projects with student research opportunities currently available: the "Child Maltreatment and Abuse in the United States" project (with Dr. Godinet), the "Contributing Factors of States Offenses and Further Juvenile Justice Involvement" project (with Dr. Godinet), the "Family and Child Care Policy in the US from a Comparitive Perspective" (with Dr. Guo) project, and the "Hate Crimes on University and College Campuses" project (with Dr. Stotzer). To learn more about these opportunities, please click here.

Latest Projects