Discussing Barriers for Undergraduate Students to Participate in Research Experiences

Abstract

The Office of Undergraduate Research (UgR) at West Virginia University (WVU) connects undergraduates with research opportunities. Every semester, hundreds of students express their interest in these opportunities through a widely publicized Interest Form (IF). However, only a fraction of these students proceed with the process of being matched with a faculty research mentor and participating in a structured research experience. Research experiences are known to positively impact students’ persistence in college and the advancement of their careers. Therefore, we aim to identify and address potential barriers that prevent undergraduate students from following through with the process of getting involved in research. We collected data from IFs over four consecutive semesters to identify specific stages in which students stop the enrollment process in the UgR program. Additionally, we wanted to identify specific groups of students by major who were more likely to discontinue the process to develop targeted recruitment strategies for these groups.