Group Projects

If you're like me, you probably cringe when you hear your teacher say the words "group project" or "you must work as a group". This is exactly what happened to me at the beginning of this semester in my Psychology 200: Research Methods and Experimental Design class. One of the first things our professor said, was something along the lines of "now this class is comprised of mostly group work" and I was absolutely terrified. Most of the time, for me at least, it means doing most of the hard work by myself and struggling to get everyone together to work on whatever the assignment may be.... along with a great amount of stress and a big headache for the duration of the project.

It doesn't have to be like this!!

However, this semester has changed my view on group work completely! In my Psychology Research class, pretty much the whole semester revolves around two huge assignments- two lab reports, both of which are comprised of experimental designs, of which we created from scratch regarding the topic of "does dishonesty lead to more creative minds" in my groups case. Along the way, we have had many assignments to guide us and prepare us for our lab reports; however, almost every assignment was done as a group. Going into this class, I knew I was going to have to put a lot of work in, seeing as I was not completely confident in my research abilities; however, having a group to work with and consult has proven very beneficial to my learning in this class.

I got really lucky and was grouped up with an awesome group, of which every member is eager to learn, contribute and is easily available for group meetings outside of class. I have learned so much, not only about research in psychology and designing experiments, but I have also learned how to work well with other people, and use everyone's different strengths in the ways that benefit not only the other group members, but also the assignment!

For those of you who don't enjoy group work as of right now, here are a few pointers:

Show your group that you are willing, and going to take the assignment seriously. If you show your other group members that you are willing to accomplish tasks within the assignment, things will go a lot smoother and others will be more prone to offer their help and efforts as well!

Accept the role that you and your group members agree is your responsibility and carry out your role to the best of you ability.

Share your views and accept your other group members' constructive criticism. I think one of the most important things that I have learned so far in college is that constructive criticism, especially from peers is super beneficial to expanding your knowledge.