Undergraduate mentorship in science: A qualitative synthesis

ABSTRACT

Mentoring is a common practice in higher education institutions and scientific fields. Undergraduates approach faculty members who are working on topics that match their research interests. We conducted a study to compile a qualitative synthesis of research on the mentorship experience of undergraduate science students with faculty mentors. We used the stages of meta-ethnography to guide our study. Meta-ethnography involves identifying concepts from qualitative studies to translate them into a line of argument. We screened 2,888 titles and abstracts, 71 full texts, and included 13 studies in the synthesis. We identified and organized nine conceptual categories into two themes: student success and engagement, and barriers to student progression. The findings show that faculty mentorship is key to supporting student retention and increasing the scientific pipeline.

KEYWORDS:

• Qualitative
• faculty
• undergraduates
• mentoring
• synthesis

Acknowledgements

We thank the University of Nebraska for supporting this work.

Disclosure statement

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

Disclaimer

The information presented is solely that of the authors and does not reflect any opinions or influence from the universities.