Procedures

1. Identify a primary faculty member to work with.
2. Obtain written authorization from the faculty member to sign up for B499. (Enrollment in the course is dependent only on gaining approval of the primary advisor and having completed B311 and B305).
3. Develop your ideas with your primary advisor.
4. Together with your primary advisor, identify another faculty member to serve on your research committee.
5. Obtain agreement from this person to serve on your research committee.
6. Develop your research proposal with your primary advisor.
7. The proposal should be a 4-page (minimum) written description of the pertinent literature, method section, and anticipated method of data analysis.
8. Obtain written approval of your proposal from both of your advisors.
9. Obtain human subjects (IRC) approval, if necessary, only after step 8 has been completed.
10. Begin collecting data, only when all above steps are completed.
11. After data collection, write up a complete paper in a form that would be appropriate for submission to a typical journal outlet.
12. Select a time for presentation of the work (This presentation should be on a par with a typical presentation at any local, regional, or national professional or student conference). At the regional or national conferences this presentation may be a poster or paper presentation. Similarly, poster or paper presentations are appropriate at other regional student conferences (e.g., MPA). However, presentations at a local (i.e., on campus) undergraduate research conference must be an paper (i.e., oral) presentation.
13. Obtain final approval of the honors research project from your two research advisors.
14. Follow the graduate student procedures for typing, binding, and filing a copy of the research.

Additional Notes

• Your role in the project should be one in which you, as a student, contribute to the development of the idea and the methodology. A project that is given to you by a faculty member does not qualify as an capstone research project.
• The primary faculty advisor must be a faculty member in the Department of Psychology. The secondary advisor must have a Ph.D., preferably in psychology, but does not have to be in the IUPUI Department.
• SPUR projects qualify for Capstone research credit and SPUR projects are expected to meet the above guidelines.
• A student does not have to be on an honors track nor have a minimum GPA to do honors research. However, students who apply for Capstone Research should have completed B311 and B305.
• Please take special note of the 4 approval or authorization points in the steps above, you may not progress forward until the steps are completed with the appropriate authorization.
• This type of project typically requires 5-10 hours per week for approximately a year.

Approval Form