When I was working on coursework for my doctorate I had a unique research opportunity where I got to collaborate with people of different statuses within the university. One of my Sociology professors designed a research group where professors, grad students, and undergraduate students all worked together as equals to conduct research in the hopes of getting a publication in the end.
In academia, getting work published is an important part of the job of professors. For those students who aspire to get masters and doctoral degrees, learning how to do research worthy of publication in academic journals is hard and intimidating. Good mentors help greatly in learning the world of PhD level professors who do research as part of their job.
Needing Mentors To Learn How To Be A Professor
One trouble I had when working on my graduate degrees was the lack of mentoring. PhD level professors are busy people and they don't always have time to sit and interact with graduate students. This is a shame because grad students are often left on their own and have no idea how to begin doing research for the goal of getting a publication. Having something published and work experience on your CV helps greatly when finding a job after graduation.
Undergraduates also get left out of the research process. There are very few opportunities for undergrads to gain experience working with PhD level professors. There is a lot of social distance between lower level college students and their professors. I remember as an undergrad I didn't interact with my professors outside of class. Graduate students are closer to their professors because grad classes are small whereas undergrad classes are usually much larger.
A Unique Research Group
When I started working on my doctoral degree a new professor came to our department and formed a unique research group. My professor wanted to bridge the gap between professors, grad students, and undergrads by having us all work together as equals to do research and write a few publications. His group included him and his wife (both PhD level professors), four graduate students, and five undergraduate students. My professor, all of the graduate students. and two undergrads were part of the Sociology Department. My professor's wife and the other undergrads were part of the Psychology program.
The reason this group was unique is because you rarely see people of different statuses working together as equals. It's rare to see undergrads included in research for publications. Professors tend to let graduate students do most of the work for research projects because they are so busy. My professor wasn't like that though and ensured all members of the group were equals and had equal work and experiences. It was also unique to combine the Sociology and Psychology students in working together. We had to ensure our topics for research fit the needs of both majors.
Benefits of Multi-Diciplinary, Multi-Status Groups:
Undergraduate students can learn advanced research techniques earlier in their academic career. This can better prepare them for the challenges of graduate school and can give them valuable experience to put on the CVs when applying to colleges.
Graduate students get time with a PhD level professor and can learn about the process of getting work published. This can help graduate students when seeking a job after they graduate.
Having a publication is a big deal! It's hard work to get research published and students get a sense of pride knowing they learned how to do advanced research worth publishing in academic journals.
It allows people from different majors a chance to work together. This isn't something that gets to happen often. Different majors teach a variety of different topics and materials. Students can share knowledge from their fields.
Undergrads and grad students working together has benefits. Younger students can learn from older students. Undergrads can talk with graduate students to understand the world of graduate school. We graduate students had advice for applying to schools, creating CVs, getting funding for school and projects, graduate assistantships, and more.
Professors are often intimidating. Having a professor work as an equal with students allows younger students to relax and feel comfortable talking with a professor. Our professor was a wealth of knowledge and was always willing to chat with us about school topics or shoot the breeze about our daily lives.
Conclusion:
It's rare to have research groups like the one I was involved in. Professors are busy people and they don't always have time for mentoring. Developing research groups takes time and not all professors want the responsibility of running a large research group containing inexperienced undergraduate students. My professor ran his research group all 3 years I was taking coursework and two publications came from our work. We also got to present our work at 3 academic conferences. Overall it was a useful experience and if I every become a PhD level professor I'd love to use this type of model to develop my own research groups. I am grateful for my professor who was willing to try something new to benefit him and students of different statuses within the university.