Lab Expectations for Undergraduate Research
Assistants
1 Scheduling
Expectations
1.1 At a Glance
General Commitment:
We want to ensure that RAs get the most value out of their experience
with our lab.
Given the extensive training required, RAs are expected to commit
to at least 2 semesters of working in lab
RAs interested in a specialized role must commit to
at least 3 semesters in order to account for the
extensive training process
Each Week:
RAs are expected to be in lab for 10 regularly scheduled hours (1 of
these hours will be from the weekly lab meeting)
These hours are regularly scheduled (between 9 AM – 5 PM), so we ask
that RAs have substantial chunks of time within the week where their
hours can be properly distributed
RAs are expected to provide at least 2 days in the
week (Monday–Friday) that they would be available past 5 PM to run
visits (to accommodate children and families’ schedules)
This does not mean you will always run visits on these days, it
simply means that you are available to if need be.
If you work in the lab more than 10 hours in a given week (e.g., to
run an evening/weekend visit), you may cut down the following week to
stay at an average of 10 hours per week.
Each Semester:
RAs are expected to provide ~8 weekend days in the semester that
they are available to run visits (to accommodate children and families’
schedules)
This means that RAs signed up for a specific day will be “on-call”
for any visits that are scheduled for that day
This does not mean you will always run visits on these days, it
simply means that you are available to if need be.
RAs will be notified of a weekend visit no later than 24 hours
before the scheduled visit.
1.2 Your responsibilities
as an RA
You are expected to be in lab for 10 regularly scheduled hours per
week, on average, during the semester (excluding university holidays,
breaks, and finals week). If you exceed 10 hours during any given week
(e.g., helping run lab visits outside of your normal hours), you should
work with the Lab Coordinator to determine when you may cut back your
lab hours in later weeks. Any request to cut back on hours or change
your schedule should be submitted to the Lab Coordinator in person or
via email to the lab email (devpsy-lab@uiowa.edu) by 5:00 pm the day prior to the
requested time off. Do not send requests to change your schedule via
Slack.
Unless otherwise stated, running lab visits is always the top
priority. You are expected to arrive 45 minutes before the scheduleld
start time of visits. If you are asked to help run a lab visit in a
given week, then running the lab visit is the prioritized use of your
allotted weekly hours. If you are able to run a lab visit, and are asked
to do so, we expect that you run the lab visit, even if it means not
completing other lab responsibilities for the week; for example, it is
okay for coding and entry duties to “pile up” if you are running lab
visits.
You are responsible for keeping the “RES-DPL-Busy” calendar up to
date, including evenings and weekends, and to keep the Lab Coordinator
informed of any changes as they occur.
You are expected to track your lab hours honestly using the
electronic scheduling system. You should diligently clock in and clock
out every time you are in lab, and should only be “on the clock” while
you are doing scheduled lab-related work or activities.
If you come into lab to help run lab visits during university breaks,
the hours can count as hours for either the current semester (if you are
“under hours” for the semester), or toward the following semester (if
you are “over hours” for the semester). Completed lab-related hours
count as lab hours no matter when they occur as long as they occur when
they are scheduled. Lab hours must be scheduled/arranged with the Lab
Coordinator in advance.
You are NOT expected to be in lab for regularly scheduled lab hours
on university holidays. If holidays occur during the week when lab hours
are scheduled (e.g., Labor Day), the Lab Coordinator will manually enter
hours for that day.
You are expected to schedule non-lab activities (course-related,
therapy/medical appointments, extra-curricular, etc.) outside of your
scheduled lab hours. However, we understand that this is occasionally
not possible. If scheduling an outside activity during your regular lab
hours is necessary, you are expected to first discuss this with the Lab
Coordinator, to mark yourself as unavailable on the calendar
(RES-DPL-Busy), and to work with the Lab Coordinator to determine when
to make up the missed hours.
You are expected to be available at least two weekday evenings (M–F)
per week and at least 8 weekend days per semester to run lab visits that
may extend or be scheduled outside of the lab’s normal business hours,
which are 9:00am to 5:00pm Monday through Friday. You will be considered
“on call” the evenings and weekend days you mark as available (i.e.,
your scheduled “on-call days”). It is unlikely you will run a lab visit
on all of your on-call days, but we may schedule a lab visit on any of
your on-call days, in which case you would be expected to help run the
lab visit. You are expected to hold your scheduled on-call days
available until 24 hours beforehand. If you can no longer help run a
visit you have been scheduled for, it is your responsibility to find
another RA to trade with you. Both parties are then required to inform
the Lab Coordinator of the trade before it is finalized. We will do our
best to schedule families during your regular lab hours, however this
may not always be possible. We want to ensure, as much as possible, (a)
adequate coverage to accommodate families’ schedules and (b) equitable
distribution of “after-hours” lab visits. These are the minimum
expectations for evening and weekend availability. You are welcome to
make yourself available more than two evenings per week and three
weekend days per month to help us better meet families’ needs.
If you miss lab for an acute illness, the missed hours should be made
up during the same semester the missing hours occurred. If you have
concerns making up these hours, please reach out to the Lab
Coordinator.
1.3 Our responsibilities
to you
We appreciate that your classes—including exams and course prep—come
first. We will work with you so that your lab schedule does not
interfere with your other classes.
It is greatly appreciated when RAs are able to run lab visits during
breaks because breaks are often when families are available and thus it
is very helpful to the lab. RAs who are available and willing to run lab
visits during breaks will accrue those hours either for the current or
following semester. Running lab visits during breaks is not an
expectation of RAs.
We will schedule lab visits using the availability schedule you
submitted to the Lab Coordinator at the beginning of the semester and
the RES-DPL-Busy calendar. We will never expect you to help run lab
visits when you have marked yourself as unavailable on the calendar.
We will do our best to schedule a similar number of lab visits across
RAs. This will ensure RAs receive a similar amount of experience with
children/families and that a small set of RAs are not overburdened by
lab visits and unable to tend to their other lab responsibilities.
We will do our best to schedule families during your regular lab
hours. We will only schedule families outside regular lab hours (e.g.,
evenings/weekends) if necessary.
We will never schedule a lab visit outside of normal lab hours with
less than 24 hours’ notice to the RAs scheduled to run it.
We will work with you to help you identify when you can “cut back”
when you let us know that you are over the expected number of hours for
that point in the semester.
2 RA Duties: What Does
Work as a Research Assistant Entail?
The undergraduate research assistant (RA) will participate in ongoing
research within the Developmental Psychopathology Lab. The RA will work
in lab for 10 hours per week during the semester (9 hours of work in the
lab plus a one-hour weekly lab meeting). Work assigned may include (but
is not limited to): making the lab space child and family friendly,
helping with recruitment, running participants, video coding, database
management, data entry, and developing new procedures/devices. Each
week, the RA is expected to read critically an empirical research
article for lab meeting and come prepared to contribute to the
discussion with questions and comments. Every other week, the RA will
submit a report of their progress in lab, tasks they found interesting,
and any questions or suggestions they have. Instructions for lab reports
are described in the lab manual (click here). Throughout the course
of their time in lab, the RA will have meetings with and work closely
with the Principal Investigator (PI), Lab Coordinator, graduate
students, and/or undergraduate students to ensure assigned work is
completed as requested with the highest quality performance possible.
The RA will be encouraged to contribute to both the formulation of
research questions as well as research implementation.
3 Lab Expectations
With the exception of running participants or recruitment activities,
lab hours will be regularly scheduled and will take place during regular
business hours: between 9am–5pm Monday through Friday. We expect the RA
to be reliable and consistently arrive on time for scheduled lab hours
and visits. Any changes to an RA’s weekly lab schedule need to be
arranged with the Lab Coordinator, in advance, in person or by email. We
expect RAs to let the Lab Coordinator know, in advance and in person or
by email (devpsy-lab@uiowa.edu), if they need to reschedule lab
hours, and to let the the Lab Coordinator and relevant team members
know, as soon as possible and by Slack, if they are running late to a
scheduled shift, visit, or meeting. The changes to your shifts and
deviations from your regularly scheduled hours (that are described
above) should be rare—other team members count on you being there during
your scheduled shift. If the RA does not complete their 10 scheduled
hours in any given week, they are expected to make up missed hours later
in the semester in arrangement with the Lab Coordinator, and will not be
given a passing grade until they have fully made up their hours. If the
RA works more than their scheduled hours in a given week (e.g., if they
work during a weekend or evening), they are expected to cut back on
their scheduled hours (in accordance with the availability described
above); however, these cuts must be approved by the Lab Coordinator in
advance.
We expect the RA to have flexibility to accommodate participants’
schedules for lab visits. For instance, the RA is expected to be
available to run lab visits on evenings and weekends (see the section on
Scheduling Expectations below). We
expect that the RA keeps eight weekend days available per semester
(three weekend days per month) for the purposes of working with
families. In addition, we expect that each RA keeps two weekday evenings
available for the purposes of working with families. We will do our best
to fairly distribute the evening and weekend hours across the team.
We expect RAs to regularly communicate with the team, using the
appropriate methods of communication, as described in the Lab Communication section of the
Lab Manual. Methods for resolving conflicts and personnel issues are
described in the Lab Communication section of the Lab Manual (click here). We expect the RA to
take personal responsibility for the work they are assigned. Assigned
work will always coincide with the 10 hours the RA is already scheduled
for. With the exception of lab visits, we will not assign work beyond
the 10 hours per week expectation as long as the RA is meeting their
expectation for lab hours. We expect the RA to ask the PI or Lab
Coordinator if they have questions about their assigned work or
expectations. Any non-assigned work (e.g., independent research
projects, Honors projects, etc.) is expected to take place outside of
scheduled hours, unless given explicit permission from the PI.
We expect the RA to show an interest in the work and to, throughout
the course of the semester, gain greater independence in the laboratory,
to take on a greater leadership role, and to contribute to the overall
improvement of the lab and its research. After an extended display of
commitment and dedication to the lab, RAs are welcome to meet with
Dr. Petersen to discuss the possibility of doing an Honor’s thesis in
conjunction with lab participation.
We expect RAs to contribute to each weekly lab meeting discussion. We
expect RAs to submit their lab report by the deadline and in the correct
location.
We expect RAs to register for the Research Practicum in Psychology
course (PSY:3994 or HONR:3994) to account for the time demands of lab
participation in their schedule.
4 Grading Scale
Based on the expectations above and the grading scale below, RAs will
be assigned a letter grade [A–F] for their performance in the lab on the
tasks assigned to them. (*Note: Enrolling in certain courses will result
in a Pass/Fail grade rather than a letter grade. See the section of the
Lab Manual that describes course options and how to register (click here)).
A: 100% attendance, consistently on time, and meeting all of the lab
expectations
B: < 100% attendance, or late cancellations for visits for which you
were scheduled, or inconsistently on time, or mostly meeting the lab
expectations
C: < 80% attendance, or late cancellations for visits for which you
were scheduled, or mostly not on time, or sometimes meeting the lab
expectations
D: < 70% attendance, or late cancellations for visits for which you
were scheduled, or rarely on time, or only occasionally meeting the lab
expectations
F: <= 50 attendance, or frequent late cancellations for visits for
which you were scheduled, or never on time, or generally failing to meet
the lab expectations
