How to begin proper research at undergraduate level? I am currently an undergraduate medical student studying in South Africa. In future I would like to do academic research but I'm not sure in what field. But I would like to get a head start now as an undergraduate. My exposure to research is very limited in the current curriculum. The most we do are research reports but that just entails compiling information from existing literature, we do not come up with our own ideas. As an undergraduate, I don't have a lot of technical or in-depth clinical knowledge so that limits me at this stage in what I can pursue. My university does not have any active undergraduate research programs. How can I start to pursue research and what fields are within my scope? I have heard of research assistants but am unsure of who to approach and what skills they need from me.
Although I am not versed in how undergraduate research is viewed in South Africa, I will answer from a U.S. perspective.

Your best bet as an undergraduate is to approach professors who are doing work that interests you. It is okay to not have specific research experience in a field: you have to start someplace, and professors will know this. There may be jobs posted for undergraduate students, or you could ask professors you have taken courses with if they have room in their lab or if they know another professor who is looking for undergraduate help. Tell them what you are able to offer: you want research experience, you are interested in topic X, you can commit Y hours per week, you took a lab course in Z. Be prepared for and not discouraged by rejection, not everyone will have time or space for new undergraduate.

If you are most interested in clinical research, your opportunities may be more limited but the basic approach is the same: approach physician-scientists who do work that interests you.

Sometimes (again, this is in the U.S.) there are credit-based positions available for undergraduates where you will do some work and get credit rather than pay for the time you put in.

In general, as an undergraduate, my opinion is that your experience in a lab should be a hybrid between the work you do for the lab and the knowledge you gain. The work you do might be menial at first: washing dishes, preparing solutions, caring for research animals or cell lines - these tasks take minimal training, so you can be useful immediately. However, you should also be involved in technical conversations, you should be reading new literature in your field (and discussing papers with your colleagues), and over time you should be learning more advanced or specialized techniques.

If you are able to spend more than a year or so in a lab, you should expect to be involved in a real project that could potentially lead to a publication, though it will probably not be your own project - that's okay, you will still be learning skills that apply to your future research endeavors (or, alternatively get you enough experience to learn that you don't enjoy a particular approach).