REU Program & Training Manual

Minority Health
Disparities Initiative
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE FOR UNDERGRADUATES
PROGRAM & TRAINING MANUAL

TABLE TABle
of
CONTENTS Contents
MHDI REU PROGRAM & TRA

3 + About the Program
5 + Program Expectations
7 + Program Tips
11 + Conducting Research
12 + Presenting Your Work
16 + Beyond the Program
17 + Contact
18 + Appendix
INING MANUAL

ABOUT THE PROGRAM
Overview
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Minority Health Disparities
Initiative (MHDI) administers the Minority Health Disparities REU,
which is an interdisciplinary program aimed promoting interest
in advanced methodological approaches for health equity and
health disparities related research and to increase representation
in health science careers. This project takes place under support
of a Summer REU grant from the National Science Foundation
for research in using novel methods to study health disparities
with a focus on community based research.
Based on these trainings, participants will develop hypotheses
and learn how to design and conduct health disparities related
research studies in order to employ these skills where possible
in their summer research projects. Instruction will take place
during the first week of the program and will be led by MHDI
Core Faculty. Training will be used to enrich the students’
experience during the subsequent 9 weeks. At the conclusion
of the program, participants will present their research at the
Summer Research Symposium poster session.
Program Time Line
The MHDI REU begins on June 1, 2022 and is completed
on August, 5 2022. In addition to completing their own
research project from start to finish, MHDI students have the
opportunity to attend research workshops, learn about the
graduate school admission process, apply for fellowships,
and hear from other graduate students attending UNL.
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Program Goals
Training #01
DEVELOPMENT #02
Provide ten undergraduate
students with training in
advanced methodological
approaches for health equity
and health disparities related
research.
Provide professional development
activities over the 10-week summer
program to help participating students
prepare for graduate research and
diverse career paths in the social and
behavioural sciences, medicine, and
public health.
EXPERIENCE #03
Community #04
Provide MHDI REU students with
a ten-week summer research
experience under the supervision
of faculty working on health equity
research.
Provide MHDI REU students with
activities throughout the summer and
beyond that help students establish
a mutual identity as a ‘community of
scholars.’
Program Outcomes and Broader Impacts
This REU encompasses novel methods for social and health
scientists, requiring that they move easily across formerly distinct
fields of inquiry. Building this sort of transdisciplinary ability in
a cohort of young researchers has the potential to transform
future research. Beyond providing transdisciplinary training
and interdisciplinary exposure for participating students, the
project’s systemic impacts include:
1. Increasing the diversity of undergraduate students
performing minority health research;
2. Improving STEM and minority health by providing research
experiences for students with limited access to these
opportunities at their home institutions; and
3. Strengthening the infrastructure and relationships that the
MHDI has formed across communities in Nebraska and with
other campuses in University of Nebraska system.
MHDI REU PROGRAM MANUAL 4

PROGRAM EXPECTATIONS
The first two or three weeks of the program can be the hardest.
While there may be long hours and hard work, the beginning can
be difficult because of all the adjustments to a new institution or
organization, student culture, and working in new ways that can
challenge students’ abilities on the very first day.
Research schedules can be demanding and will vary from
project to project. The REU calendar of events can be found
on Basecamp (see Appendix B). We ask that you plan around
REU activities as they are mandatory. Please communicate these
dates with your research mentor before scheduling meetings or
other events. Please inform the REU Program Manager of any
conflicts in schedule as far in advance as possible.
You will be expected to:
Complete any mandatory training before the program begins
To conduct research on any NIH or NSF funded project at UNL,
all undergraduate students must complete CITI Training Group 2
Social / Behavioral for Research Investigators and Key Personnel
and Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR). Please see
Appendix A for instructions on how to complete this training.
Plan and execute an independent research project
Plan and execute an independent research project under the
guidance of a research faculty mentor and graduate students.
We anticipate that a minimum of 70% of your working time
during the program will be devoted to activities directly related
to your research project.
Present your findings
Present your research findings at a remote poster symposium
organized by University of Nebraska-Lincoln Office of Graduate
Studies August 4, 2021 This will be open to the UNL community
and general public. You will also have the opportunity to present
to the rest of your peers at a mock presentation.
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Participate in program activities
Participate in REU Program Activities including all orientation
meetings, seminars, networking activities, and research activities
in your mentor’s lab.
Ask for help!
Have fun and be sure to ask questions and reach out if you need
help!
Mentor Expectations
Establishing communication expectations
The best way to avoid misunderstandings between you and your
mentor is to agree with them about the frequency, medium,
format and drivers of your communication. Try to be explicit
about what you will need from them and ask for clear statements
of what they expect from you. Use these communication
guidelines as a starting point for the discussion.
2017 MHDI REU students Brandi Bentley & Katheryn Bost with their mentor, Dr. Jordan Soliz
Meeting with your mentor
Prepare written talking points before the meeting. Focus on
what the key points are that you would like to discuss during
the meeting. For example, show any analyses, point out
concern(s) and ask if there is something that I am missing.
If time allows, ask about helping your mentor on some of
their other research that may have gained your interest.
Productive meetings
A productive meeting is often defined based upon
expected outcomes and sometimes unanticipated events,
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such as break-through ideas for the work or an unintended
discussion about professional or personal development.
A productive meeting begins with planning. It is good to
have an agreed upon agenda for each meeting. The agenda
can be a formal or merely a list of key discussion topics.
It can be helpful prior to discussing a topic to clarify the
desired outcome of the discussion.
TIPS
Adjusting to a new environment
Switching to a new institution or program may not seem like a
significant challenge, but even a temporary change amounts to
a change of culture. Students entering a new environment can
undergo the same process of cultural adjustment as when you
first started undergraduate studies or those studying abroad.
Knowing the cycles of this adjustment process can help you to
understand your own changes in mood or attitude. The University
of Nebraska provides a guide to cultural adjustment (link) that
can be applied to any change of environment.
To ease the adjustment process consider these sugg-estions:
Realize that changes in your mood or attitude are a normal part
of the process. Keep in touch with friends and faculty at your
home institution. Practice self care and take a holistic approach
to your well-being & talk to others who may be experiencing
the same thing. Make sure fun and relaxation are part of your
routine!
Socialize
Be sure to take advantage of all of the social events that are
provided throughout the life of the program. Socializing is
a critical part of the experience – it contributes to or greatly
impacts the bonds between colleagues who will work hard
together, help each other, and then maintain contact after the
program ends. For an undergraduate, this can be a critical time
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to develop insight into the life of a graduate student and faculty
member. It also provides times for students to receive informal
mentoring on their professional development. Some of the best
discussions initiated by a student about their future plans may
happen when during informal discussions.
Culture – diversity of background, institutional & program
Depending on your family background, the institution that
you are coming from and even the size of the school that you
attended, the environment that you find yourself in can be a
dramatic change. Faculty and students need to pay attention
to and be sensitive to differences in culture and inherent
biases that can impact the success of their interactions and
expectations. A program at a large research institution or in a
research laboratory can be quite a cultural shock if you come
from a small undergraduate education-focused institution.
Establish communication expectations
The best way to avoid misunderstandings between you and your
peers or mentors is to agree with them about the frequency,
medium, format and drivers of your communication, as
appropriate. Try to be explicit about what you will need from
them and ask for clear statements of what they expect from you.
Use the following communication guidelines as a starting point
for the discussion.
1. When to e-mail, phone, or meet face to face
In general, the following is recommended:
Use e-mail for:
• Sending a document or information for review, or
clarification to follow up a previous discussion or
e-mail.
• Quick communication – e.g. scheduling a meeting.
Use Basecamp for:
• Quick communication – e.g. scheduling a meeting.
• Sharing something cool that you found in the Camp
fire.
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Use the phone for:
• An issue that needs to be resolved that may be
difficult, but there is no time for a face-to-face
meeting.
Face-to-face interaction:
• This provides an opportunity for details to be
shared and discussed as well as additional follow-up
conversations.
Social media, e-mail, texting, are all very convenient, but
also fraught with danger: misunderstandings resulting from
not communicating clearly an accurate sense of mood.
Remember, that with any electronic communication it is best
to assume that the intended person has not received it until
there is confirmation. Similarly, when you receive electronic
communication, respond as quickly as possible, even if only
to indicate that the communication was received and to
provide a time line for when you plan to act on it.
2. Communicating with an absent mentor
At some point, mentors engaged in professional or scholarly
activities will have to leave the lab for periods of time.
Planning your communication with your mentor(s) during
their absence is crucial to receiving the mentoring support
you want. When you discover that a mentor is planning to
be away, request a meeting to agree on a communication
plan that includes the following:
Clear guidelines on:
• The frequency of communication expected from you
• The content to be communicated
• The communication medium to be used
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What you need from the mentor:
• Specific areas of feedback and comment you expect to
continue to receive
• Specific time span within which you can expect to
receive a reply to a question or issue
If there is any doubt that the mentor will be able to
communicate with enough frequency or depth to support
you, you and your mentor should consult the faculty
supervisor or director to decide whether a new mentor
should be found.
How to track your progress
Tracking your progress can help you see what you have
accomplished. This can help your self-confidence and also provide
a basis for your discussions with mentors. Tracking your progress
should look forward and backward. Each week, before meeting
with your mentors, look back to what you have accomplished
in the past one or two weeks and then think forward to plan
what you would like to accomplish in the upcoming weeks. Each
week you will be updating both the forward and backward view.
The point is not to exactly predict the future or exactly follow
a list of work tasks. These are points in time for you to reassess
where you are progressing and also to provide a good basis for
a discussion with your mentor on the work to be done.
Write this in a document. It can be a document with ongoing
revisions or a new document for each week. As you document
your accomplishments, you are simultaneously developing a base
of information for presentations and reports. When planning
future work, be sure to write down each task and what goals or
objective the task serves . This can be very helpful when looking
back at the work that has been completed.
The act of mapping out your progress and plans will help you
organize your thoughts. So even if not requested by a mentor or
program, these may be documents that you keep for yourself as
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a reference for future work.Talk to your mentors about how they
document their project progress. They often have large and very
complex projects that they are managing.
CONDUCTING HEALTH EQUITY RESEARCH
Health disparities are real. The evidence base is sizeable and
irrefutable. It is time to shift the research emphasis away from
documenting the pervasiveness of the health disparities and
begin focusing on health equity, the highest level of health
possible.
The focus on health equity research will require investigators
to propose projects that develop and evaluate evidence-based
solutions to health differences that are driven largely by social,
economic, and environmental factors.
Throughout the program, you will hear from numerous experts
who are developing solutions to some very large issues. You will
learn innovative methods, practical tools, and skills required to
conduct rigorous health equity research and translate evidencebased
strategies into practice and policy. This training will include
topics such as community based participatory research, social
network analyses, community-engaged methodologies, and
social context assessment tools. You will also develop knowledge
and skills in all phases of research, including hypothesis
development, research design, data analysis, and scientific
writing. Your mentors will guide you through the process of
formulating a research hypothesis, analysing, and summarizing
the findings, however, we have also provided you with a list
of resources in Appendix C that include how to organize and
manage your sources and also some resources on conducting
analyses and choosing which statistical test is appropriate for
your hypotheses.
At the end of the program, you will present your research at the
UNL Summer Research Symposium and potentially at regional
or national conferences in your related fields. In the next section,
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we will cover more about presenting your research and how to
create a poster.
PRESENTING YOUR WORK
Effective presentation strategies and designs
Posters are a critical component of science communication
– an important element in a successful scientific career. The
purpose of scientific posters is to present work to an audience
who is walking through a hallway or exhibit. At a conference,
the presenter usually stands next to the poster, thus allowing
for passers-by to engage in one-on-one discussions with the
presenter. In a hallway, posters are stand-alone presentations
for passers-by. Best posters are snapshots of your work, and
good titles—main and figure– are critical to communicating your
research.
For a poster to communicate the work, the poster first has to
orient an audience that is not seated, but that is standing. Often
the audience has distractions of noise and movement from other
people. Given those distractions, a journal article tacked onto a
board fails as an effective poster because the audience cannot
concentrate for a time long enough to read through the paper.
In fact, given the distractions that the audience faces, many in
the audience will not even bother trying to read a journal article
tacked onto a board.
So what makes for an effective poster? This question is not
easy to address because the expectations by the audience
vary significantly from discipline to discipline. For instance,
what an audience of a medical poster session expects differs
significantly from what the audience of an engineering poster
session expects. Nonetheless, this section will try to present
some general guidelines that would apply to most situations.
The title of an effective poster should quickly orient the
audience. ​Here are some guidelines for poster titles:
• Make the title the most prominent block of text on the
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poster (either center or left justify at the top).
• Do not typeset the title with a small font size (such text is
difficult to read).
Figure 1
The poster should quickly orient the audience to the subject
and purpose. One good test is whether the audience recognizes
the subject and purpose within 20 seconds of seeing the poster.
Usually, a poster accomplishes this goal with a well-crafted title
and with supporting images. Also, make sure that the type is
large enough to be read and that enough contrast exist between
the color of the type and poster’s background. Typography
recommendations can be found in the following PowerPoint
poster template.
The specific sections such as the results should be easy to
locate on the poster. Once readers recognize what the work
is, they decide how much energy to invest into the poster. For
example, some audience members will read only the motivation
for the work, the objectives (or goals) of the work, and then
the final results. Others, who have a deep interest in the topic,
will try to read the poster from beginning to end. Given these
different approaches to reading posters, another characteristic
of an effective poster is that specific sections are easy to locate.
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Design the individual sections of a poster so that they can be
quickly read. Given the distractions that occur while reading
posters in a symposium, if possible, the sections should rely on
images: photographs, drawings, and graphs. Figures 1 represents
a poster that quickly orients the audience to the topic of the
work. The poster also identifies the purpose of each section and
then supports those sections in a manner can be quickly read.
More information about the effectiveness of sentence headlines
occurs in the following section.
Oral Presentations
Let’s take a look at the three parts that make up the structure of
any presentation: Introduction, Body, and Conclusion.
Introductions. The introduction of a talk is an opportunity to get
your audience interested in your talk as well as prepare them
for the journey. You’ll want to use the brief time that you devote
to the introduction wisely. Here are some key components of
effective introductions:
How to begin. What is the best way to begin the talk? Your
entry point should cultivate the audience’s interest in your
topic so that they will want to pay attention to your upcoming
presentation. Often, the entry point can be a chance for you to
establish the importance of your topic or provide a “big picture”
view of its significance. You might consider sharing a story from
your research experience or providing an example. There are
many strategies that can be employed, but the important thing
to remember is that your entry point should be purposeful and
help you begin to get the audience invested in your talk.
Preview the development of the talk. Let the audience know the
purpose of the talk and how you plan on covering the material.
Audiences appreciate hearing a map of the presentation.
The Body. Structuring the body of a presentation should begin
with giving some critical thought to what your goals are for
the presentation and thinking about what type of information
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will need to be shared in order to accomplish those goals. It is
common for presenters to try to do too much in a presentation.
Perhaps they try to cram all of the details about one year’s
worth of research into a 15 minute talk. Or, as is commonly seen
at conferences, they try to pack all of the information from a
complex research paper into a short conference presentation.
Typically, this type of talk is doomed before it even begins.
Conclusion. The conclusion of a talk is a crucial part of the talk’s
structure, yet it is often neglected. Many presenters will just
get to the end of all of the planned content and will end rather
unceremoniously with “That’s all I have.” Or an abrupt, “Any
questions?” With a small amount of effort, a good conclusion can
increase retention and add some polish to your talk. You should
view your conclusion as your final chance to reinforce what you
want you audience to take away from your presentation.
There are three goals that you should think about achieving with
your conclusion:
1. Review. You should recap the key ideas that you covered in
the presentation as a way of brief review for your audience.
2. Final appeal. Tell the audience what you hope your talk has
shown them; essentially it is your final reminder of your
main assertion.
3. End with impact. You might consider an appropriate final
thought for the talk. A well-planned closure line can wrap
a presentation up very smoothly. Of course, you should
follow up with asking for questions.
BEYOND THE PROGRAM: WHAT’S NEXT?
Your REU experience can enhance distinct goals and plans or
mark the beginning of a new academic pathway. Either way, as
the program draws to a close there are several important things
you can do to make sure it fully serves next stages of your
education or professional development. The mentors, faculty
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and administrators with whom you worked during the program
have gotten to know you and are invested in your success, so
don’t miss the opportunity to let them help you progress.
Schedule meetings with your faculty mentor to discuss your
academic and professional goals. Don’t worry about how well
developed you think those goals are - just use the focused
time to get clarifying and validating your next steps. Often, the
academic outputs of a research placement include as many areas
for future study as conclusions about the work done. Consider
working with your mentor on defining follow-up work and
creating a plan for continuing to pursue aspects of the research
that most interests you.
Use what you learned during the program to guide your
research into graduate school programs. Talk to mentors, faculty
and administrators about how the work you completed in the
placement might connect to particular graduate programs, and
request introductions to any personal connections they may
have at graduate programs of interest to you, so that you can
get more information directly from program participants.
Finally, request future reference letters from faculty and mentors.
Be sure to request these letters no less than a month prior to the
deadline as you want to ensure that your mentor has sufficient
time to write a strong letter, especially if you are applying to
multiple institutions. Be sure to send your application materials
along with your request as this also helps contribute to a strong
letter of recommendation.
CONTACT
Kim Gocchi Carrasco
Research Specialist II and REU Program Manager
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Oldfather Hall 430
Lincoln, NE 68588-0309
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Office: 402-472-5976
Cell: 402-314-1331
kstarlin2@unl.edu
Trey Andrews
Principle Investigator
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Burnett Hall 317
Lincoln, NE 68588-0308
arthur.andrews@unl.edu
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APPENDIX
A. CITI Training for Student Workers
All faculty, employees, students and other institutional
representatives at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln are required
to complete the Human Subjects Research (HSR) Course via
the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) website if
they will be working on a research project that involves human
subjects. The course is presented as several modules with a
brief quiz at the end of each module to assess understanding of
the material. A cumulative passing score of 75% is required for
successful completion and is valid for a period of 3 years at which
time a refresher course must be taken. It takes approximately
2-3 hours to complete the Basic course. However, the training
does not have to be completed in one sitting but can be spread
out over time if needed. This training needs to be completed
before you can start working as a research assistant in our lab.
Mandatory education of research personnel is consistent with
the National Institutes of Health (NIH) policy. This policy requires
training of key project personnel as a condition of proposal award
and with the recommendations of the Association of American
Universities (AAU) Task Force on Research Accountability. UNL’s
Federal-Wide Assurance requires that all UNL research done
with human subjects, regardless of funding source, abide by the
federal regulations in 45 CFR 46 and the Belmont principles of
respect, beneficence and justice.
Further, it states that UNL will provide introductory and
continued education to personnel conducting research with
human subjects to help ensure that these ethical standards are
met. The responsibility for ensuring the rights, safety and wellbeing
of research participants is shared by the investigator, the
Institutional Review Board (IRB), the University, and all research
personnel. Education of the research community in the principles
and procedures for protecting human research participants is a
necessary step in order to meet this joint responsibility.
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To assist in this process, UNL has subscribed to the Consortium
for IRB Training Initiative in Human Subjects Protections (CTI),
which covers a self-paced, web-based tutorial. To be certified
for human subjects research, key project personnel must
complete the CITI tutorial every three years; this training must
be supplemented annually through CITI refresher tutorials or
through attendance at one or more educational sessions held
by the IRB.
CITI Training Instructions
1. Create your user account through the CITI website (www.
citiprogram.org). You will be requested to complete a series
of questions or provide information specific to your UNL
affiliation. Here are just a few tips to ensure a smooth account
set-up:
• UNL is listed by the full name under the “Participating
Institutions” heading. Please select “University of
Nebraska – Lincoln.”
• This training does NOT require payment from the trainee/
user if you are completing this training for UNL purposes.
In other words, we do not require CME/CEU credits or
registration as an Independent Learner. If this is selected
as an option, this is the responsibility of the user to pay
for any fees assessed.
• The email address you enter does not have to be a UNL
email address but it should be one that is used frequently
so that you do not miss important reminders to refresh
your training.
• Page 6 of the registration form will ask you to provide
your institutional email address. Please feel free to use
the same email address as before.
2. You will need to add both “Responsible Conduct of Research
(RCR) and Group 2 Social / Behavioral Research Investigators
and Key Personnel courses in the “Main Menu” under “My
Learner Tools at The University of Nebraska-Lincoln”. On
the next page, you will see “Select Curriculum - University
of Nebraska - Lincoln (416)” and below that, it should say
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“CITI Course Enrollment Procedure”. You will want to scroll
all the way to the bottom where it says: “Please choose the
appropriate course you wish to take for the University of
Nebraska – Lincoln: Choose all that apply”. You will want to
click on two:
• “Yes, I conduct human subjects research at UN-L. This is
the required course at UN-L for Human Subjects Research
Protection.” and also
• “Yes, I wish to take a course in Responsible Conduct of
Research (RCR)”. Then, click “next”.
3. On the next page, scroll down to the bottom, you will see the
required question “* Have you previously completed a Basic
Course in the protection of human research subjects at the
UNL?” Choose one answer. You will need to choose “No, I am
a new investigator at UNL. I have not completed an approved
Basic Course previously.”
4. On the next page, again scroll down to the bottom of the
page where it says “Select the focus that is most appropriate
for your human subjects research activities. If you conduct
both biomedical and social and behavioral research, choose
all that apply.” and choose “Group 2. Basic Course for Social
/ Behavioral Research Investigators and Key Personnel. This
course is for all UNL-affiliated human social and behavioral
research personnel who are responsible for project oversight,
design, or data collection.”
5. On the next page, again, scroll to the bottom, and click “This
does not apply to me”.
6. On the next page that appears, again scroll to the bottom
where it says “ If you are required to complete the Responsible
Conduct of Research training, please select your research
focus below: Choose one answer”, select “RCR Biomedical
Sciences: This course is appropriate of Investigators, Staff
and Students from CITI participating organizations, who
have an interest in the Biomedical Sciences. Case studies
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are embedded in the modules for your review. Complete
all required modules, case studies and quizzes to obtain a
Completion Certificate.” Then click next. The courses should
now appear under your University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Courses.
7. Click on the Biomedical Responsible Conduct of Research
- Basic Course, and be sure to click right below it where it
says “To pass this course you must: Complete all 10 required
modules, achieve an average score of at least 80% on all
quizzes associated with this course’s module requirements.
There should be a link below this that you have to follow
before completing the courses. Once you complete RCR,
you will need to complete the Group 2 Social / Behavioral
Research Investigators and Key Personnel course as well.
8. You will need TWO copies of each of your completion
forms. Email one copy to the Program Manager (Kim Gocchi
Carrasco), the other copy is for your records.
B. Basecamp
Basecamp is a project management software tool and a way
to keep us all productive and better organized. We ask that all
students create an account before they arrive. Below are some
helpful tips on how to use Basecamp.
General Guidelines:
To minimize interruptions, click on your photo/initial in the circle
at the top right-hand corner of the page and click “Change
your notifications settings”. If you do not change your settings,
Basecamp will literally bombard you with emails and notifications.
You can change when and how you receive notifications as well
as change the hours that you receive notifications by email.
The “Home” Page
This page will show all the current teams and projects that you
are on. At the top, there is a row of links to different sites on
Basecamp.
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Pings are direct messages similar to texting, and you can use this
to communicate with a specific person or even multiple people.
The “Hey” feature lists current correspondence, tasks that are
due, upcoming events, and any notices. The “Activity” tab lists
all activity across all projects and teams. The find is a search tool.
The search tool is great if you are looking for something specific.
On the “Home” page, there is a list of
bullets that link to different pages on
Basecamp (top right of the page under
“My Stuff”). They should look like this:
• My Assignments list all of your
assignments under each team and
project.
• My Bookmarks can bookmark items
so that they are easy to find.
• My Schedule links to all of the events on your schedule across
projects and teams.
• My Drafts lists any drafts that you have started
• My Recent Activity lists anything that you have accomplished
recently
• My Boosts is a short, flexible, and personal way to respond
to something directly. Boosts can be up to 16 characters,
and can contain emojis, text, or a combination of the two.
The Jump Menu
Right below the row of Pings, Hey, Activity, Search is the “Jump
Menu” If you’re like me and have a ton of Basecamp projects and
teams, the Jump menu can help get you somewhere quickly. It’s
as easy as hitting Command-J (Mac) or Ctrl-J (Windows). The
jump menu will pop up and you can start typing to narrow down
on the person, project, team, or your HQ. Click or hit Enter on
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the selection and you’ll jump right to where you want to go.
Teams
Teams are where people in similar roles share things with each
other and stay coordinated. Think of them like mini-HQs. Use
them for long term ongoing groups or departments. They are
set up exactly like projects so it can be confusing which should
be used for what. At REACH we use teams for communication
between leadership staff, our undergraduates, and for specific
teams. For example, our Puerto Rico field team has a “team” in
Basecamp and several “Projects” as well. We do not currently
have a WoC Team, but I just thought I would share how we use it.
Projects
The Project section lists all of your projects. If you work on one
(or more) project more than the rest, you can pin it so that
it appears at the top of the projects section. When you pin a
project, a push pin will appear on the right of the project card
(see example on the right). You can pin projects by clicking the
three dots on the side of the project. In each project, you will
find the project sections. Which I will go into more details on
each one below.
Campfire
The campfire is great for informally
discussing ideas. This should be used for
exploring a topic or sharing big ideas,
not for correspondence that requires
immediate response such as meeting
reminders. For example, you might use
the Campfire section to share an article or
video that others might find helpful.
Message Board
The message board works well for sharing announcements and
asking specific project related questions. The Message Board is
also used to share reminders.
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To-Dos
The To-Do’s section is the task management platform where the
managers and coordinators can post tasks. Please place clear
instructions for each item, keeping in mind that you may not be
available to answer questions when someone gets to your item. In
each project there should be at least two To-Do categories. One
for priority items that need to be done within a week, and one
for general to-do’s that have a longer lifespan or that aren’t due
for a while. Be careful to not upload any necessary documents
needing editing to a to-do, but rather link them to a Dropbox
or a Box file. Make sure that the person completing the To-Do
also has access to the Dropbox/Box folder. Please be sure not to
upload transcription or sensitive information to Basecamp.
The Schedule
The schedule is a place to view events for a certain project or
team. It’s also a great place to post links to agendas, meeting
places, links, and other information pertaining to the meeting.
Automatic Check-ins
Automatic Check-ins are reoccurring questions that might pop
up from time to time such as List the goals that that you want to
accomplish for the week.
Docs and Files:
This is a great space for sharing project sharing articles and files.
***Please note: It is also important not to not upload any sensitive
files here such as transcription or data.
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At the bottom of each Basecamp page, there is an Archived and
Deleted link to all of your files that have either been archived or
deleted. If you accidently delete something, this should be the
first place you look. Keep in mind that items are permanently
erased in 25 days, or when you empty the trash, whichever comes
first. Its data will remain on the Basecamp internal systems and
backups for up to 30 days before it’s completely destroyed.
C. Research Resources
1. Citation managers such as Zotero, Mendeley, or End Note
• During the course of your research project, you will likely
read a wide variety of academic research articles. Keeping
track of these articles in a citation manager will make
your life much easier when it comes time to writeyour
research proposal. A good citation manager will allow you
to organize articles your references and will automatically
generate references for you in the accepted format of
your field. Zotero is very popular among students as it is
free. Learn more and download Zotero here.
2. Understanding statistics
• Statistics can be an intimidating topic, especially for
those who are new to it. Luckily, there are resources online
that can help ease students into the subject matter. It is
always okay to ask for help if a concept is new and does
not make sense! StatQuest is taught by Josh Starmer, a
professor of Biostatistics at UNC Chapel Hill. His YouTube
channel goes over foundational and advanced statistical
method.His videos can be a little silly but are incredibly
informative. His channel can be a great resource to learn
about a statistical method you hear about during your
research. Here is a link to his channel.
3. Choosing a statistical test
• Choosing a statistical test to run can be a very complicated
process, and you will likely involve your mentor when
making this decision. However, it helps to know the basics
of which tests are suited to which types of data. Depend-
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ing on the form of your variables of interest (categorical,
ordinal, numeric), their distributions, and the question
you are trying to answer with your data, different statistical
tests will be relevant.
• For choosing which statistical test is appropriate, this
resource from UCLA can help you decide what type of
statistical test is appropriate depending on the data you
have and the question you are trying to answer. This list
is not exhaustive of all possible tests but it can help you
come up with a short list of which tests might be applicable.
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