Introduction
Over the past several decades, the demand for higher education around the world has increased substantially (UNESCO 2018). Several factors have fueled the growing demand. As higher-education institutions expand their services to accommodate the increased demand for education, they have also put greater emphasis on academic engagement and quality to increase student retention and graduation rates. UNESCO (2018) estimates that by 2040 nearly 600 million students will be enrolled in colleges and universities around the planet, up from 216 million students in the year 2016.
This statistic is striking when one considers that the global college-age population will reach 800 million in 2040. Much of the growth in college-age people will come from African countries. Also reflected in these numbers are millions of additional students who enroll in free courses through open education platforms like MITâs OpenCourseWare as well as nonformal learning platforms like Khan Academy. It is fair to say that in many countries higher education has reached a universal status, as defined by Martin Trow (UNESCO 2018). Since higher education is viewed by many as a critical factor in attaining employability and social mobility through knowledge acquisition and skill development, it comes as no surprise that many people are enrolling in colleges and universities, and other learning programs, in record numbers.
This increased demand in higher education has also created increased competition for students, which, in turn, has put greater pressure on institutions to improve their services. One way they are doing this is by implementing undergraduate research programs, mainly because it is seen as one of the most beneficial high-impact learning activities in existence (Kuh and Hu 2001; Kuh 2008). Campuses have acknowledged the documented benefits of undergraduate research and expanded opportunities for student engagement in research. It is vital to understand deeply the impact of undergraduate research so that context-sensitive ways of improving UGR may be found, whether that be small tweaks, major adaptations or implementations of whole new models (Komarraju et al. 2010; Lopatto 2006, 2007; Webber et al. 2012).
The benefits of undergraduate research include but are not limited to: improved faculty teaching performance, increased facultyâstudent collaboration/mentoring, increased student engagement, improved teamwork skills, increased academic achievement, higher-order thinking and inquiry skills, improved perseverance in problem-solving, and increased self-confidence. These benefits, in turn, help improve student persistence and retention.
Intellectual, psychological, and social characteristics are also crucial in preparing students for graduate studies and professional employment. In some cases, involvement in undergraduate research helps students to reevaluate and fine-tune their career choices, especially for those who may still be unsure about what graduate program or career to go into (Kuh 2008; Gentile et al. 2017).
Undergraduate research is identified as a high-impact learning practice and, as such, it is linked to improved student achievement and institutional advancement. Undergraduate research can take different forms depending on how it is utilized. With respect to scope of integration, it can be used as a one-off extracurricular activity or it can be a one-off curricular activity where it is integrated into a single course as a learning activity or it can be integrated across a set of related courses as part of a broader program or departmental undergraduate research effort where the research continues across semesters (Lopatto 2009; Gentile et al. 2017).
With respect to level of research, it can be used as one of several different types of learning activities a student must perform, say with lower or equal grade weighting, or it can be the main learning activity that is weighted relatively heavily. The level of the research refers to the intensity of the research performed. The level of research is on a spectrum of intensity from low level to medium level to high level. A low-level (i.e., low intensity) research activity may only involve collecting and analyzing secondary data. In contrast, a high-intensity research activity involves collecting and analyzing primary data. The level of research performed is often a function of several factors, including grade and course level, and the degree of collaboration with the faculty member or mentor.
With respect to type of research, it can be used with any of the main learning domains (arts, humanities, science), and thus, the type of research will depend on the specifics of the domain, the discipline, the field, and the particular course. For instance, STEM fields use the scientific method as the main problem-solving approach and they rely on experimental methods to collect and analyze empirical data. In nonscientific fields such as the arts and humanities, they also use evidence (data) to carry out research but the data is often qualitative, collected and analyzed by nonexperimental methods. The common denominator across the domains is the use of the research process to collect evidence to answer research questions (Blessinger 2017; Hensel 2018). Appendix A provides a high-level overview of the research process.
The faculty member is in the best position to determine the scope, level, and type of research to be conducted by students, how best to scaffold the research process, and the nature of the research question to be answered. Regardless of the scope, level, and type of research conducted, the ultimate objective of undergraduate research is for the students to make, to one degree or another, an original contribution to the field of study related to the course. Although students may work independently to carry out the research, they typically collaborate with a faculty member. The degree of collaboration will depend on the scope, level, and type of research, among other factors (Kinkead and Blockus 2012; Gentile et al. 2017).
The Purpose and Value of Undergraduate Research
Apart from the benefits of undergraduate research, it is essential to understand the underlying mechanisms that create the value proposition of undergraduate research, and that defines its purpose. Research is the process of conducting a systematic inquiry to produce original knowledge. Research involves the systematic analysis of data in order to answer research the question(s). Thus, the purpose of research is to generate new knowledge, which involves collecting and analyzing data, both secondary and primary. The type of data collected and the way the data is analyzed will depend on the research methodology used, which in turn, will depend on such factors as the research question(s) and the research objectives as well as the knowledge domain, discipline, and field. Research is an inquiry-based learning activity, so research begins and ends with the research question and objectives.
Embedding undergraduate research into a course is not the only way to implement undergraduate research. The apprenticeship modelâone professor and a few studentsâis another way to implement undergraduate research. Other ways to implement undergraduate research might include integrating it with study abroad experiences, internships, service-learning, and student learning communities, among others. Undergraduate research can also be integrated into extracurricular activities. Any activity that would lend itself to the research process could be a viable candidate for undergraduate research.
Although collecting primary data is often considered the heart of the undergraduate research experience, collecting and analyzing secondary data is also essential. Since research is a process of inquiry that can be used in any discipline or field, it lends itself to a wide variety of ways to integrate it into courses and programs. On o...