Tag: Research

Two NEW COURSES in Undergraduate Research

research

U UNI 240 The Research Journey (3)
Class Number: 10613
Grading: A-E
Course Info: UUNI 240 The Research Journey
Meeting Info: TTH 02:45_PM-04:05_PM BB0151 
Comments: Open to Freshmen and Sophomores Only
This course is aimed at freshmen and sophomores with an interest in research. This will be an interdisciplinary course, exploring the rigor and principles of research across disciplines – from social studies, to arts, to humanities, to nursing, to natural and physical sciences. The purpose is not to explore how research is conducted in any single discipline, but to facilitate an understanding of how researchers identify and define problems and the discipline that lies behind imagining research. The course will empower students to think of research communities as cultures with unique vocabulary, rituals, norms, and best practices. Readings will be diverse, taken from a range of disciplinary specializations. The course will accomplish four objectives: (1) inspire excitement about the research process; (2) dissuade students of the inviolability of rigid disciplinary boundaries; (3) instill comfort with the (seemingly arcane) terminology and concepts of research; and (4) expand perception of the range of domains in need of informed researchers.

U UNI 250 Becoming a Researcher (3) STARTING SPRING 2018
This course will prepare freshmen and sophomores to participate in research, individually, in groups, or with supervising faculty. The course will introduce students to the common steps in the research process, and how they apply across disciplines. Students will learn how to define problems across disciplines, the research designs commonly adopted across disciplines, and the commonly adopted methods of analyzing qualitative and quantitative data. The purpose of the course will be to empower students to participate with confidence in the various formal and co-curricular learning environments that characterize a Research I university. The course will accomplish four objectives: (1) recognize the similarities and distinctions in research across disciplines; (2) identify how to define a research problem; (3) understand the commonly adopted research designs across disciplines, and how to select among designs; and (4) become exposed to the commonly adopted analysis procedures of both quantitative and qualitative data, across disciplines.

Examples of how UAlbany students are working with faculty on various research projects: