By Maggie Bushman/ Communications Intern
Experience conducting research is beneficial to any career path. When people think about research teams they typically picture those with some kind of science or psychology background. I know I believed that prior to working with SMAHRT. However, I have learned that primary research should be encouraged in every field.
I am a strategic communications major at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Before my junior year, I was aware that UW-Madison is a leading research university, but I never got to fully interact with the research process. My first semester as SMAHRT’s Communications Intern, has taught me so many valuable lessons, one of them being how to properly conduct research.
Through my experience, I believe that every student should have some experience conducting primary research. To further explain why you should gain experience in research, I will walk through my experience at the Undergraduate Research Symposium (URS).
Step 1: Identify research topic
As soon as the research process began, it was apparent that my initial thought, that mostly science or psychology majors conduct research, was wrong. There are in fact researchers from about every background you could think of, but what connects them all to research is that they have a topic area they are passionate about.
This past year I became interested in bridging the gap between the public and science. From classes and personal experience, it was evident that some people distrust science. They get frustrated when they can’t fully understand the publications published by researchers that are intended to help the general public. This interest lead me to my URS project idea that looked at whether or not Instagram could be used to promote a research team. I hypothesized that promoting research teams on social media would make them more transparent and trustworthy in the public eye.
Step 2: Literature review
The literature review felt like the natural next step for me. Most of my classes throughout my college career have taught me the importance of secondary research. This is looking to already published sources for background information on your topic. For my URS project, I looked for literature that had to deal with Instagram. I wanted to know what practices businesses were using to promote their brand. I also wanted to get a grasp on the best times and content to post on Instagram.
Step 3: Clarify the research question
After compiling my findings from the literature review, I finally pulled together my research question. Does the use of a business’ social media promotion increase engagement on a research team’s Instagram?
Step 4: Begin data collection
My research question provided me with a rough path that guided me throughout the rest of my project. This next step, data collection, was something that I did not have prior experience in. In the School of Journalism, we always talked about primary research, but never had time to conduct it. URS and SMAHRT provided me with a valuable learning experience. From my research question, I knew I wanted to measure engagement on Instagram and I felt that the best way to do that was through documenting the number of likes on each post. The posts that I decided to measure were the ones were I was implementing some of the business social media promotional techniques that I discovered in my literature review.
Step 5: Analyze and interpret data
The data collection process took about a month and a half. I felt more comfortable as I went along, creating posts and documenting the likes. However, when I got to this step, I felt very overwhelmed and out of my element. Kole Binger, fellow SMAHRTie, and the rest of the team really helped me to take my findings and interpret them in the most useful way. The entire team was so encouraging and always made me feel like I was capable conducting research even though I was the Communications Intern.
Step 6: Share findings
I took my findings to the 2018 Undergraduate Research Symposium. Going into that day, I was extremely nervous that I was going to feel out of place. However, when I stood next to my poster, other students and faculty were coming up and asking genuine questions. I really enjoyed working on my project because it was something I was passionate about and I learned many valuable skills throughout the process. These skills will be beneficial later in my career.
Through my experience conducting research, I have seen how valuable primary research can be to society, but also as a learning tool. This is why I feel that every undergraduate or even high school student should gain experience conducting primary research.