Research Is Time Consuming

Continuing research during the semester is entirely possible, but it does take a lot of time and focus. If you want to conduct research while you are in classes, you have to be dedicated. Sometimes you may have to go in and conduct research even though you have a huge test coming up the next day, or you may have to miss an event that you really wanted to go to.

The amount of time you will have to spend on research depends on many factors:

1. Research Location. Travel is often necessary to be able to conduct the research that you want to, and it is important to consider the time it will take you to get to your research site into the time you will have to dedicate to your work. If you are conducting bioinformatics or related research that can be completed primarily or entirely on a laptop, you may have to travel very little, perhaps only for meetings. I personally travel to a different campus from where all of my classes and other events occur to conduct research.

Figure 1. What I imagine some of my friends think I am off to when I say I have to go to lab (Encyclopedia SpongeBobia).

2. Project Type. If you are working on your own independent project, then you will need to be at your research site quite frequently. If you are working as part of a team, you may need to be there at more specific times, but you will have more freedom in how much time you have to be at the your research site since your team can split up the work. However, you will spend more time coordinating with other people to make sure everything is getting done. I am lucky enough to be working with an undergraduate student who goes to school at the campus I travel to, so she is able to stop in for short tasks much easier than I can. We communicate via text and just update each other when necessary, which is proving to be very effective.

3. Requirements. Research can often count for credit, or function as a job, or even both depending on your situation. If you are receiving credit and/or a stipend for your research work, you will likely have a total amount of hours you must reach either overall or per week. It will likely not be difficult for you to reach your hour requirements, but it is important to keep this value in mind. I am receiving one credit for my time, so I need to reach 40 hours total over 14 weeks. I think I have reached this amount of hours already, only halfway through my semester.

Figure 2. Most research conducted by undergraduate students during the semester will
provide the chance to receive a stipend and/or college credit (Collegebound Network). 

At one point one of my professors at my home institution told me that there was no way you could do less than ten hours a week of research and actually get anything done, and that completely is true. A lot of research is waiting for procedures to complete, which simply takes time. The good news is that when you are waiting and have no other lab tasks to complete, you have a wonderful chance to get some homework or studying done for your classes, or catch up on other obligations if possible. Finding connections between your research and your coursework can make the time seem less overwhelming as well.

References

Collegebound Network. College Debt Surpasses Credit Card Debt. 2010. [Image]. <http://www.collegebound.net/blog/college-debt-surpasses-credit-card-debt/>.

Encyclopedia SpongeBobia. Top Secret Laboratory. n.d. [Image]. <http://spongebob.wikia.com/wiki/Top_Secret_Laboratory>.