A Taste of Research: Reflections on a Summer Vacation Research Assistantship

Research is closely intertwined in teaching and learning psychology as a science-based discipline and various methods are used to enable psychology students to grasp the nature of psychological research. VRA (Vacation Research Assistantship) schemes give students the unique opportunity to ‘taste’ what research is truly about, and develop important skills and knowledge in the process and ‘test’ their interest in a research career. VRAs provide a research-based teaching providing an experiential approach to learning, where both the student and educator are engaged as partners in the research process, reducing the role division between student and educator. This paper reflects on a VRA process and outcomes in respect of student learning and experience using as framework the teaching –research nexus (Griffiths, 2004). Both student’s and educator’s reflections are discussed as well as directions for future developments and research.