Understanding undergraduate engineering researchers and how they learn

Benson, Lisa; Kennedy, Marian S.; Ehlert, Katherine M.; Vargas, Penelope; Faber, Courtney June; Kajfez, Rachel Louis; McAlister, Anne M.

doi:10.1109/fie.2016.7757630

Cited by 7 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…This manuscript stems from a mixed method project aimed at understanding the epistemic thinking and researcher identity of engineering students involved in undergraduate research (Benson et al, 2016;Faber et al, 2019;Lee et al, 2019). For this special issue, we are focusing on new findings attributed to the use of mixed method approaches to studying identity.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Mixed Method Approach to Understanding Researcher Identity

Kajfez

Lee

Ehlert

et al. 2021

Studies in Engineering Education

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Background: Identity research in engineering education has been expanding to include multiple forms of measurement. While a variety of approaches have successfully contributed to our understanding of identity, mixed method approaches have been utilized minimally in identity research. Therefore, additional insight on the implications and affordances of mixed method approaches for identity research is needed. Purpose: Our work explored undergraduate engineering students' researcher identity using a fully integrated mixed method approach by interweaving deductive (quantitative) and inductive (qualitative) strands of survey and interview data. We aimed to answer the research question: How can quantitative and qualitative data approaches be used in combination to explore how students conceptualize their researcher identity? Method: The data included responses from 20 undergraduate mechanical and biomedical engineering students representing six different institutions. Students completed surveys, and their survey responses served as a foundation for subsequent interviews. Both the survey and interview contained an identical item (a single anchored scale measure of researcher identity), which directly connected the two data sets. While the survey data was used during the interviews, analysis of the strands was initially separate but concurrent. Results: After initial analysis, mixing the data provided two key opportunities to attain a deep understanding of participants' researcher identity. The anchored scale provided a platform to discuss researcher identity with participants and allowed us to look within and across participants' experiences in unexpected ways. Our discoveries of how individual students' conceptualizations of the identity being measured varied and how those conceptualizations changed over time were only possible through the analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data. Conclusions: Our fully integrated mixed method approach resulted in a more complete understanding of students' researcher identities, allowing us to extend our theoretical understanding beyond what would have been possible with either method alone. Researchers exploring complex topics that can be fluid and affected by time and experience, such as identity, may benefit from integrating a similar approach into their research protocols.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Mixed Method Approach to Understanding Researcher Identity

Kajfez

Lee

Ehlert

et al. 2021

Studies in Engineering Education

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“…Further, use of the SRSI has been limited among some undergraduate contexts, such as STEM disciplines. With increasing emphasis placed on STEM education (Benson et al, 2016;Olson & Riordan, 2012), and the high potential for growth in STEM career fields over the next few years (Carpi, Ronan, Falconer, & Lents, 2017;Casey, 2012), sound measures of SRL strategy use will be needed for research in these areas. Thus, future research that investigates SRL strategy use in STEM subjects should consider using the SRSI-SR, to see if it performs adequately in these contexts.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of the Self-Regulation Strategy Inventory—Self-Report (SRSI-SR)

Tise¹,

Follmer²,

Sperling³

2019

PSYCH

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This work presents a systematic review of the Self-Regulation Strategy Inventory-Self Report (SRSI-SR). Theoretically grounded in Zimmerman's three-phase model of self-regulated learning (SRL), the SRSI-SR provides information about learners' use of three broad types of self-regulation strategies. Google Scholar, PsycINFO, and ProQuest were searched to identify studies referencing the SRSI-SR; 18 studies met the inclusion criteria. Studies were coded based upon: 1) Likert scale type employed, 2) type of study conducted, 3) student grade level, 4) school subject area, and 5) other constructs also examined, such as motivation and achievement. Overall, the SRSI-SR is emerging as a sound measure of SRL strategy use. Validity and reliability information, gaps in current knowledge about the measure, and future research recommendations are also discussed in more detail.

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“…Studies and reports use a variety of synonyms for identity, such as 'habits of mind', 31 'self-efficacy', 32 'professional identity', 11 'engineering roles' 33 and so on. The authors piloted different terms before the final search terms were selected (see Table 1).…”

Section: Identificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of undergraduate laboratories in the formation of engineering identities: A critical review of the literature

Winberg

2021

The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa

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Background: There was growing recognition worldwide by professional engineering bodies, engineering faculties and researchers on the need to pay attention to engineering students' emerging identities and how they were formed across the trajectory of undergraduate engineering programmes. An increasing number of research studies focused on engineering identity, including systematic reviews of the research literature.Aim: Engineering laboratories were key learning spaces in undergraduate engineering programmes. In the laboratory, students learned to integrate theory and practice, engaged in problem-solving and applied experimental methods. The purpose of this critical review of the literature was to interrogate the impact that learning in engineering laboratories had on emerging professional identities across engineering disciplines and fields.Method: This review built on and extended previous systematic reviews on engineering identity by studying pedagogies in the engineering laboratory through the lens of identity formation. Search terms were consistently applied to eight databases, which yielded 57 empirical studies, after the application of relevance and quality appraisal criteria. Two reviewers independently applied a socio-materialist theoretical framework of identify formation to each study and coded each of the studies into categories aligned with the theoretical framework. Results:The findings of the critical review revealed the temporal, spatial, material, performative and discursive dimensions in engineering identity formation and showed that students' emerging identities could be affirmed and supported by appropriate laboratory pedagogies. Conclusion:The critical review of the literature concluded that curricular and pedagogical interventions that were better aligned with the dimensions of identity formation were more likely to enhance students' identification with engineering.

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Understanding undergraduate engineering researchers and how they learn

Cited by 7 publications

References 15 publications

A Mixed Method Approach to Understanding Researcher Identity

A Mixed Method Approach to Understanding Researcher Identity

A Review of the Self-Regulation Strategy Inventory—Self-Report (SRSI-SR)

The role of undergraduate laboratories in the formation of engineering identities: A critical review of the literature

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