Top 10 Things to Keep in Mind When Doing Research

1. Pay attention to details.
2. Decrease independent variables but increase dependent variables (i.e. fewer manipulations but more measures).
3. Anticipate potential troubles and try to problem solve beforehand.
4. Minimize interactions between participants and experimenter.
5. Collaborate with team members and delegate responsibility amongst the team.
6. Be careful with data entry – make sure that data entered will be compatible between Excel and SPSS.
7. Coordinate lab schedules between research teams.
8. A research experiment will take much longer than expected to complete from start to finish.
9. Never change methodology part way through data collection.
10. The only mortal sin of research is fabricating data.