undergrad research really doesn't prepare nor teach you research that's needed at the graduate level. For 2 of the projects, I was an undergrad research assistant for I handed out surveys and then recorded an endless stream of 1s and 0s into an excel sheet. Unpaid for a billion hours of work. For the third, I was basically a mule that got to carry things around campus and make deliveries.

Research at the graduate level they prepare you for with a research class. You could look at the OSU library online and find a research book to read about qualitative methods, quantitative methods and SPSS to get an idea of what grad research will entail.

Really though a graduate degree isn't years and years of research. I had 1 research project due my second(final) grad year that had to be presented at our local grad conference. It took me one semester of work. I know phds are different... but I'm not sure getting that degree pays off in this field. (time/money - given this is our second degrees and we're already older) The title would be fun I suppose.