Independent Research Project Requirements

Students obtaining the certificate must complete an independent research project. This project is intended to provide a capstone experience for students, which will allow them to demonstrate their ability to conduct sound and important Human Factors research as a measure of their knowledge of the field. Students will enroll in Psych 4800 for at least one semester, but most likely 2 semesters, with a faculty advisor who has agreed to advise them on this project. The majority of time is spent developing and implementing a research project under the supervision of the faculty member and the graduate students in his or her lab.

NOTE: This project should be underway at the start of the last two semesters prior to graduating.

Basic steps to undertake when meeting this requirement:

1. Meet with one of the Human Factors certificate advisors as early as possible to discuss interests in the field and to receive help in considering faculty members who may be willing to supervise your research project.
2. Contact potential faculty advisors to inquire about possibility of doing research project in their labs.
3. Interview potential faculty if possible to find the best fit for your interests.
4. Sign up for Psych 4800 with the faculty advisor's permission code for at least one (most likely two) semesters with intent to complete the requirement.
5. Spend time designing the research project and then implement and run it using the participant pool or other appropriate sample.
6. Write up the project in an APA-formatted structure as either a journal article for a psychology journal or similar to a conference proceeding for the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society (Human Factors example).