Research supervisors and undergraduate students’ perceived gains from undergraduate research experiences in the social sciences

ABSTRACT

Undergraduate research experiences (UREs) enhance student retention, provide transferrable skills, and prepare students for advanced graduate study. The majority of these benefits, however, are concentrated within the natural and biological sciences; disciplines with historical under-representation of non-male students. If offered in the social sciences, UREs would be more accessible to women, students of colour, and first-generation students. But there are relatively few models and little research to confirm that UREs in the social sciences offer similar benefits to students. Using mixed methods data, we compare students’ (n = 122) and research supervisors’ (n = 56) perceptions of success in meeting learning outcomes for students participating in social science UREs. The combination of quantitative and qualitative survey data shows that students gain skills in research (e.g. data collection, management, and analysis) as well as other transferrable skills helpful in various career paths (e.g. collaboration, time management, problem-solving). We also demonstrate that faculty supervisors perceive significant benefits from overseeing UREs, such as enhancing professional development and increased job satisfaction. These findings demonstrate the need for expanding UREs beyond the biological/natural sciences where they have been focused to date.

KEYWORDS:

• Undergraduate education
• student research
• mentoring
• social science
• UREs

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The use of ‘science’ incorporates social science and other endeavours ‘whose goal is to acquire objective knowledge’ about the world and ‘to use that knowledge to meet human needs’ (Bernard 2012, 20798).

2 Latine is a gender neutral term to identify those of Hispanic heritage and aligns with Spanish grammar and pronunciation (see Slemp 2020; Zentella 2017).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation under grant BCS-2143766.

Notes on contributors

Alissa Ruth

Alissa Ruth is an educational anthropologist whose research focuses on structural inequalities faced by historically underserved students within the United States. She has over a decade of experience developing and delivering experiential educational opportunities that integrate undergraduates into research.

Alexandra Brewis

Alexandra Brewis is a President’s Professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change at Arizona State University, where she teaches anthropology, global health, and social research methods.

Melissa Beresford

Melissa Beresford is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at San José State University. As an economic anthropologist, her research examines how humans respond to resource insecurities. As a research methodologist, she researches and innovates methods for ethnographic field research and qualitative data analysis. She has over a decade of experience teaching social science research methods via face-to-face, online, and experiential learning modalities.

Christopher M. Stojanowski

Christopher M. Stojanowski is a bioarchaeologist whose research focuses on lifestyle reconstruction in past societies using archaeologically recovered biological materials. His work primarily uses information from human dentition to understand relationships, identity, subsistence practices, and patterns of mobility in the past.