Research skills and STEM undergraduate research students' aspirations for research careers: Mediating effects of research self‐efficacy

Abstract

Positive student outcomes of undergraduate research experiences (UREs) have been well documented, however, many studies have neglected the logical relationship among outcomes, the processes through which they are achieved, and the contextual and participant factors at play in UREs. This study uses structural equation modeling to explore these issues in a URE program. The study tested a hypothesized model of the mediating effect of participant research self-efficacy on the relationship between their research skills and desire to persist in science. Results indicate that research skills and research self-efficacy predict student aspirations for research careers, and that the effects of research skills are partially mediated through self-efficacy beliefs. # 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 50: 940-951, 2013

A Developmental Model of Research Mentoring

“…Since context matters when thinking about the type of academic relationships that mentors have with students (Hoffman 2014), we expect that our model can apply to other mentoring situations where the mentor and student are collaborating on a research project. These mentoring relationships include mentoring between faculty and graduate students (Dodson, Fernyhough, & Holman 2006), mentoring between faculty and undergraduates (Adedokun, Bessenbacher, Parker, Kirkham, and Burgess 2013) and between graduate students and high school students (Bleicher 1996).…”

Summer undergraduate nursing research experience: Implementing a mentor-based research program for minority nursing undergraduates

“…Journal reflections have been reported to promote the identity of undergraduate students as scientists and help connect the research experience to what students' thoughts are of themselves as scientists. [16] In addition to the traditional laboratory notebook, completion of the reflective journals is a key component of the SUNRISE program to help nursing students create an identity as a nurse scientist.…”

“…[16] In addition to general demographic information, the survey asked questions regarding the student's plans for education beyond the undergraduate degree, how the research experience influenced the student's plans for postgraduate education and gains made during the undergraduate research experience (i.e. understanding of the research process, mastery of lab techniques, interpretation of scientific literature, skills in scientific writing and presentation, translation to nursing, etc.…”

Developing the Higher Education Curriculum

“…This is the first step in becoming part of the research community within the RDSVS and the wider veterinary community of practice. The goal was to help students to build their confidence in communicating as part of the research community (Adedokun et al 2013). As such, the assessment submission was in four parts: an abstract, a group blog, a poster and a group presentation.…”