Virtual Instruction: A Qualitative Research Laboratory Course

Online graduate programs in psychology are becoming common; however, a concern has been whether instructors in the programs provide adequate research mentoring. One issue surrounding research mentoring is the absence of research laboratories in the virtual university. Students attending online universities often do research without peer or lab support and without previous experience in supervised research projects. This article describes a virtual qualitative research lab course at an online university that both mentored students and collected data through a virtual qualitative lab on a national scale. The authors also address logistics, problems and issues that arose, and suggestions for future courses.