Undergraduate Research at a Teaching-Oriented College: Seniors’ Perspectives and Approaches to Consider

Thumbnail Image

Files

30353-Article Text-81239-1-10-20210503.pdf (1.22 MB)

Links to Files

https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/josotl/article/view/30353

Permanent Link

https://doi.org/10.14434/josotl.v21i1.30353
 http://hdl.handle.net/11603/21612

Collections

UMBC Graduate School
UMBC Biological Sciences Department
UMBC Faculty Collection

Author/Creator

Author/Creator ORCID

Date

2021-05-03

Type of Work

journal articles
Text

Department

Program

Citation of Original Publication

Cresiski, Robin Herlands; Shi, Qingmin; Thanki, Sandip; Navarrete, Lori; Undergraduate Research at a Teaching-Oriented College: Seniors’ Perspectives and Approaches to Consider; Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning 21,1 (2021); https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/josotl/article/view/30353

Rights

This item is likely protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Unless on a Creative Commons license, for uses protected by Copyright Law, contact the copyright holder or the author.
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Subjects

Abstract

This study examines the relationship of undergraduate research (UGR) participation on senior students’ reported engagement, perceived gains, satisfaction with their educational experience and retention, and graduation status compared to peers that have not participated in UGR. Data were drawn from 1,472 senior students at a comprehensive, teaching-oriented public college, and collected from administration of the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) from 2015 to 2019, along with institutional data. This examination uniquely investigates outcomes of UGR participation besides persistence and graduation (which are already well documented) and leverages the lens of senior students in particular. In addition, this study contributes to the literature on UGR at teaching-oriented colleges, which has been sparse most likely because there are many more opportunities for UGR at research institutions. In line with several conceptual frameworks of student engagement, data analysis revealed that relative to their peers who have not participated in UGR, UGR-participating students have higher levels of engagement, perceived gains, and overall satisfaction. UGR-participating students also continued enrollment and/or graduated at a higher rate after reaching their senior status compared to non-participating peers. The implications for teaching-oriented colleges, as well as suggestions for how these institutions can enhance their undergraduate research programming, are discussed.