Strategies for Advising

Undergraduate Research

Faith Agostinone-Wilson, Joan Fee,

Christina Bruhn, Meredith Harvey, Christopher Wells

Overview

AU/GWC faculty group book project

Lack of handbooks for faculty and advisors who supervise undergraduates conducting research

Concept of book: ◦ Provide background information about

demographics and characteristics of undergraduates

◦ Present strategies for engagement with writing for research purposes

◦ Discuss different contexts of undergraduate research with real-world examples

Today’s Undergraduate Student:

Implications for Teaching Research

Faith Agostinone-Wilson

Background

Undergraduate students represent some of the most diverse demographic characteristics contained within one group

According to Kazis, et.al (2007), the definition of “non-traditional student” cannot be determined by age alone and includes the following risk characteristics in any combination: not financially dependent on parents, having children or other dependents, being a single parent, not possessing a high school diploma, attending school part time, working full time, and delaying postsecondary enrollment after one year of graduating from high school

Only 27% of undergraduates have none of these characteristics and can be considered “traditional students”

Median age is rising to 29 (Hersch & Merrow, 2005)

Key Contexts Political

◦ Privatization

◦ Adjunctification of faculty

◦ Corporate-funded research

◦ Diversity and backlash

◦ Liberals Arts and foundations decline

◦ Ascent of Utilitarianism

Economic

◦ Reduction in state sources of funding

◦ Subsequent tuition hikes

◦ Changes in financial aid policies

◦ Realities of working adults

Social/Academic

◦ Degree persistence

◦ Transfer and articulation agreements

◦ Campus climate/The commuter student

◦ Pedagogical considerations

Implications for Research

Research projects need to be designed to tap into the life

experiences of the non-traditional undergraduate student

while providing writing and library database search skills

guidance for those who have been away from formal

education for a while

Likewise, the 18-22 year old undergraduate fresh out of high

school may have to have assistance with thematic analysis

and making deeper connections with the data

Students need to learn the importance of research ethics

and the role of the Institutional Review Board. The very

process of submitting proposals for review often increases

the quality of student writing

Implications for Research

Because of the budgetary constraints facing postsecondary institutions, faculty should expect to do a hefty amount of do-it-yourself (DIY) curriculum planning for research experiences, not relying as much on external resources, funding field trips, securing for-a-fee guest speakers, etc.

That means possibly collaborating with faculty from other departments to increase the power of a research project across interdisciplinary lines

These partnerships should be flexible enough to accommodate the working schedules of adult students and partners should be open to a diverse range of undergraduates

Implications for Research

Undergraduate students may not be as responsive at first to more creative, independent, open-ended types of learning, such as are involved with research projects or more often seen in the graduate classroom

Scaffolding of experiences from more heavily monitored/direct instruction about elements of research to guided practice, to independent work is effective for both younger and older undergraduates

Constant and informative feedback while in class is also essential because designing and conducting research is not an experience most undergraduates have had before

Narrative Inquiry/Research

Joan Fee

Narrative Inquiry/Research

Qualitative Research

Either a

Phenomenon being studied (e.g., narrative of

a college biology class)

Or

Method of conducting research (collecting

and analyzing individual life stories

(Creswell, 2013)

Here we discuss the method.

Definition

“Narrative is understood as a spoken or written text giving an account of an event/action or series of events/actions, chronologically connected” (Czarniawska, 2004, p. 17)

“Stories told in the first person about particular events by the narrator who experience it him/herself” (Labov as cited in Trahar, 2011, p. 23)

For Undergraduates Begin with Writing own Event (500 words) to Share with a Partner

Then Practice

Learning Research Ethics

Developing Questions

Deep Listening

Interviewing/Recording/Transcribing

Taking Field Notes

Reflecting and Analyzing

Engaging with Complexity

Writing

Possible Topics & Analysis Foci

Career-Related Topics

Internship/Apprentice-ship/Mentorship Stories

Best/Worst Day on the Job

Job Success Stories

Challenging Job-Related Situations

Stories of a Job-Related Project

Teamwork/Collegial Stories

Analysis Dimensions

Time (Past, Present, Future)

Interaction (Personal and Social)

Place (Physical Boundaries)

(Clandinin and Connelly, 2000)

Measuring the Impact of Service

Learning Projects

Christopher Wells

Measuring the Impact of Service Learning

Projects

Many undergraduate courses now incorporate a service learning project that is intended to have a social, environmental, or economic impact

A review of the literature shows that students are often asked to write about what they did (tasks) for learning assessment, but not about what they accomplished through the project

Writing about project impacts helps students appreciate the need for their service

Finding appropriate measures of impact is essential (Bornstein & Davis, 2010; Vasan & Przybylo, 2013)

Social – Ice Age Trail

Measures of impact

◦ Number of hikers

◦ Health and wellness

benefits accrued by

hikers

◦ Reduced impact on

other natural land

◦ Works of art inspired

by time spent hiking in

nature

Environmental – Marine Debris

Measures of impact

◦ Amount and type of

debris collected

◦ Number and types of

wildlife that benefit from

a cleaner environment

◦ Number of boaters and

swimmers who benefit

from fewer accidents

caused by debris

Economic – Art Gallery

Measures of impact

◦ Number of artists

whose work has sold

◦ Revenue generated

through art sales

◦ Revenue brought to

neighboring businesses

by having the gallery in

the neighborhood

Primary Research with First Year

Undergrads: Goals & Strategy

Meredith Harvey

Primary Research with First Year

Undergrads: Goals & Strategy Explicit Goal: To teach students about

research writing as a mode, through

modeling.

Strategies: Progressive writing

assignments & Flipped classroom model

Research: Pre-Writing & Literature

Review Database Usage

Primary research articles & Journal Club

Topics Selection: Bruce Ballenger’s Curious

Researcher

Journal Club=> Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography => Literature

Review

Ethics, Proposals & Research

Discuss Research Questions

◦ Bruce Ballenger’s Curious Researcher

◦ How they could find the answer (mode)

Ethics

◦ Henrietta Lacks

◦ IRB=>Research Proposal

Research

◦ Instructor Facilitated

◦ Data Collection

Student Results & Analysis

Results

◦ Oral Presentation (Informal)=>Results

◦ SPSS, graphics, and when to put results &

discussion together

Analysis

◦ Discuss significance of findings

◦ Ask about problems (forms limitations)

◦ Ask about what they learned and what they could

learn with more time/money/access? (forms

future studies)

Student Feedback

“I do think that breaking this final paper in to different

assignments helped keep the paper organized and made it

easier to understand the topic we are writing about. Also it

made it easier to put together.”

“I think the time working and breaking up the steps on the

paper in class did help me complete the tasks effectively

because I got to do the paper in steps and not all at once…

And I got to specifically focus on each step making sure I did

each step right.”

“I was able to take as much time as I wanted to write the

different assignments and i felt in no way pressed for time.

Overall, I'd say that is probably the best way to do a large

assignment like that.”

Teaching Research to

Undergraduates in the Social

Sciences

Christina Bruhn

Why bother with this topic?

◦ No systematic reviews have been published

◦ A book has been published, but it does not address the evidence base

◦ Many studies have been done, yet their research designs tend to be weak (very weak), and the evidence has not yet been aggregated

So, what’s the problem?

◦ Students don’t understand why they need to do research (Shannon, Kim, & Robinson, 2012)

◦ Students are likely to perceive research courses as anxiety-producing (Green, Bretzin, Leininger, & Stauffer, 2001; Howard et al., 2003; Kelly & Bronstein, 2003)

Problems, cont.

◦ Students have “unfavorable attitudes” (Macheski et al., 2008) that may become more unfavorable after taking a class (Manning et al., 2006; Sizemore & Lewandowski, 2009) (from Sociology); of note, however, is conflicting research suggesting considerable variation in students’ attitudes toward research (Secret, Ford, & Rompf, 2003).

◦ Students do not feel prepared to engage in post-graduate work and would rather focus on practice than research (Lemieux & Allen, 2007)

What’s the result? ◦ Students do not retain the research class material

(Witkin, Edleson, & Lindsey, 1980)

◦ Students do not value the importance of scientific evidence as related to their practice (Bolen, 2005) and do not have the skills to apply research findings (Howard, McMillen, & Pollio, 2003; Rubin & Parrish, 2007)

◦ Candidates don’t know how to find or access research literature (Brown et al., 2003)

◦ Students do not use research material once they graduate and enter the professional world – “Practitioners and students… rely on their personal strategies and common sense” (Parker, 2004). Practitioners may think that research is academic and not a pursuit that takes place in the working world (Anderson, 2002)

What are institutional barriers to effective teaching of research?

◦ The content can be difficult to cover in a semester, and the curriculum may not afford a two-semester course (Shannon, Kim, & Robinson, 2012)

◦ Lack of emphasis of research within the curriculum has the effect of limiting academics’ confidence to teach research, thus reducing the future pool of researchers (Orme & Powell, 2007)

◦ Demanding academic schedules may preclude research activity on the part of academics. Absence of active research involvement may impede their ability to incorporate research content in classroom teaching and discussions (Orme & Powell, 2007)

What doesn’t work in teaching of research? ◦ “A significant amount of research teaching was non-

experiential and in traditional formats such as didactic teaching. This is in contrast with the literature on research teaching that highlights the use of experiential learning” (MacIntyre & Paul, 2013)

◦ Andragogy (adult learning strategies) emphasizing presentation by problem rather than by subject and discussion over lecture did not produce better outcomes with regard to knowledge and research appreciation (Nasuti, York, & Henley, 2003)

◦ Team-based Learning was not more effective than traditional pedagogies in increasing student intent to incorporate research into practice (Macke & Tapp, 2012)

What has been claimed as effective? ◦ Active learning using a variety of approaches

Involve students in faculty research (Berger, 2002)

What does work, cont.

◦ Active learning, cont. Conduct secondary analyses of existing data sets (Wells, 2006)

Conduct research in the field/practicum setting (Moore & Avant, 2008)

Teach research and practice in the same course (Berger, 2002)

Evaluate evidence base for an intervention of interest (Auslander, 2012)

Review specific articles in small group settings (Holmes, 2008)

◦ Problem Based Learning (Inquiry Based Learning) IBL was associated with slightly lower knowledge gains but more

retention of knowledge (Dochy et al., 2003)

◦ Service Learning Conducting research in community-based settings to provide benefit

to local social service agencies – challenges skepticism about the utility of research (Shannon, Kim, & Robinson, 2012; Williams & Reeves, 2004)

Ethics in Student Research

Jay Thomas

Historical Context

Nuremburg Code (1949)

Tuskegee syphilis study (1932-72)

Helsinki Declaration (1975)

Belmont Report (1978)

Why “Ethics First”?

Where do students develop ethics?

Where do teachers teach ethics?

Examples from the real world of students

◦ Counterfeit Coke machine $

◦ The Potato Chip Study

◦ Social groups in school

IRB (It’s Not Just Another Hoop)

Guidelines provided by FDA

Required of any institution receiving

federal research funds

Rationale for IRB

Composition of IRB

Conversation Starters

Stanley Milgram's shock box

Stanford prison experiment

Stem cell research in the US and Europe

Conclusion

Feedback? Questions?

fwilson@aurora.edu

If you are interested in writing a chapter

for our book project, let us know!

References Anderson, S.G. (2002). Engaging students in community-based research:

A model for teaching social work research. Journal of Community

Practice, 10(2), 71-87.

Auslander, W., Fisher, C., Ollie, M., & Yu, M. (2012). Teaching master’s and

doctoral social work students to systematically evaluate evidence-

based interventions. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 32, 320-341. Doi:

10.1080/08841233.2012.707170.

Berger, R. (2002). Teaching research in practice courses. Social Work

Education, 21(3), 347-358. Doi: 10.1080/02615470220136911

Bolen, R. (2005). Utilizing web based databases to introduce social

work content on statistics courses. Social Work Education, 25(1), 17-27.

Doi: 10.1080/02615470500477805

Bornstein, D., & Davis, S. (2010). Social entrepreneurship: What everyone needs

to know. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

References

Brown, K., Rutter, L., & Young, N. (2003). Students need study skills. Community Care, 1461, 42-44.

Clandinin, D. , & Connelly, F. M. (2000). Narrative inquiry: Experience and story in qualitative research. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Creswell, J. (2012). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Czarniawska, B. (2004). Narratives in social science research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Dochy, F., Segers, M., Vann den Bossche, P., & Gijbels, D. (2003). Effects of problem-based learning: A meta-analysis. Learning and Instructions, 13(5), 533-568. Doi: 10.1016/S0959-4752(02)00025-7

References Green, R. G., Bretzin, A., Leininger, C. & Stauffer, R. (2001). Research

learning attributes of graduate students in social work, psychology, and business. Journal of Social Work Education, 37 (2), 333-341.

Hersh, R.H. & Merrow, J. (2005). Introduction. In R. Hersh & J. Merrow (Eds.), Declining by Degrees, (pp.1-9). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Holmes, C.M. (2008). How can curriculum action research be used to promote post qualifying practice teaching award candidates’ interest in research articles? Social Work Education, 27(7), 695-709. Doi: 10.1080/02615470701538215

Howard, M., McMillen, C., & Pollio, D. (2003). Teaching evidence-based practice: Toward a new paradigm for social work education. Research on Social Work Practice, 13(2), 234-259. Doi: 10.1177/1049731502250404

Kazis, R., Callahan, A., Davidson, C., McLeod, A.,Bosworth, B., Choitz, V., & Hoops, J. (2007, March). Adult learners in higher education: Barriers to success and strategies to improve results. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Labor.

References

Kelly, T.B. & Bronstein, L.R. (2003). The folder feedback system: Making research content more understandable, enjoyable, and usable. Social Work Education, 22(3), 261-270. Doi: 10.1080/0261547032000083450

Lemieux, C. & Allen, P.D. (2007). Service learning in social work education: The state of knowledge, pedagogical practices, and practice conundrums. Journal of Social Work Education, 43, 309-325. Doi: 10.5175/JSWE.2007.200500548

Macheski, G.E., Lowney, K.S., Buhrmann, J., & Bush, M.E.L. (2008). Overcoming student disengagement and anxiety in theory, methods, and statistics courses by building a community of learners. Teaching Sociology, 36(1), 42-48. 10.1177/0092055X0803600106

Macke, C. & Tapp, K. (2012). Teaching research to MSW students: Effectiveness of team-based learning pedagogy. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 32, 148-160. Doi: 10.1080/08841233.2012.668161

References

Manning, K., Zachar, P., Ray, G.E., & LoBello, S. (2006). Research methods courses and the scientist and practitioner interests of psychology majors. Teaching of Psychology, 33(3), 194-196. Doi: 10.1207/s15328023top3303_7

McIntyre, G. & Paul, S. (2013). Teaching research in social work: Capacity and challenge. British Journal of Social Work, 43, 685-702. Doi: 10.1093.bjsw.bcs010

Moore, L.S. & Avant, F. (2008). Strengthening undergraduate social work research: Models and strategies. Social Work Research, 32(94), 231-235.

Natsuti, J.P., York, R.O., & Henley, H.C. (2003). Teaching social work research: Does andragogy work best? The Journal of Baccalaureate Social Work, 9(1), 149-175.

Orme, J., & Powell, J. (2007). Building research capacity in social work: Process and issues. British Journal of Social Work, 38(5), 988-1008. Doi: 10.1093/bjwe/bcm1

References

Parker, J. (2004). Effective practice learning in social work. Exeter: Learning Matters.

Rubin, A. & Parrish, D. (2007). Challenges to the future of evidence-based practice in Social Work education. Journal of Social Work Education, 43(3), 405-428. Doi: 10.5175/JSWE.2007.200600612

Secret, M., Ford, J., & Rompf, E.L. (2003). Undergraduate research courses: A close look reveals complex social work student attitudes. Journal of Social Work Education, 39(3), 411-422.

Shannon, P., Kim, W., & Robinson, A. (2012). Implementing a service learning model for teaching research methods and program evaluation. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 32, 229-242. Doi: 10.1080/08841233.2012.680867

Sizemore, O.J. & Lewandowski, G.W. (2009). Learning might not equal liking: Research methods courses change knowledge but not attitudes. Teaching Psychology, 36(2), 90-95. Doi:10.1080/00986280902739727

References

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Vasan, N., & Przybylo, J. (2013). Do good well: Your guide to leadership, action, and social innovation. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Wells, M. (2006). Making statistics “real” for social work students. Journal of Social Work Education, 42(2), 397-404.

Williams, N.R. & Reeves, P.M. (2004). MSW students go to burn camp: Exploring social work values through service learning. Social Work Education, 23(4), 383-398.

Witkin, S.L., Edleson, J.L, & Lindsey, D. (1980). Social workers and statistics: Preparation, attitudes, and knowledge. Journal of Social Service Research, 3, 313-322.