Importing the Laboratory Model to the Social Sciences: Prospects for Improving Mentoring of Undergraduate Researchers
Published in the Journal of Political Science Education, 2019
Scholarship on the positive effects of undergraduate research experiences (UREs) has touted the laboratory model as a way to boost understanding of complex concepts, foster independent inquiry, and improve outcomes, such as student retention and graduation rates. While this model has been applied mainly in the natural sciences, Ishiyama (2002) attests to the positive impact of UREs in the social sciences as well. This paper argues that the laboratory model can be used by faculty members in a variety of institutional settings to improve students’ research literacy by fostering mentorship at multiple levels and engaging them in peer-to-peer learning. The theoretical is combined with the practical, offering suggestions for best practices based on the author’s experience setting up a research laboratory in International Relations at an RU-VH institution.
The Stewardship Model of Mentoring: Supporting Undergraduate Researchers from Diverse Groups
With Benjamin A.T. Graham and Kelebogile Zvobgo
Published in PS: Political Science and Politics, 2020
Those who study undergraduate research experiences (UREs) have found correlations between participation in research and a broad range of positive outcomes, including research literacy. However, little work has been done on the mechanisms behind these associations. In this paper, I connect research on mentoring with the literature on UREs, arguing that it is the mentoring aspect of the URE experience that is vital to the development and practical application of the process of knowledge development. I evaluate my claims by surveying a population of students participating in undergraduate research, using an instrument that combines feeling and skills-based questions.
Smoothing the Pipeline: A Strategy to Match Graduate Training with the Professional Demands of Professorship
With Kelebogile Zvobgo
Published in the Journal of Political Science Education 2019
Faculty recruitment and Ph.D. student placement have become increasingly competitive over the past decade. The emphasis of graduate student training—research above all else—often means a difficult transition into the professoriate, where expectations for faculty are broadened to include teaching and service. In response, we offer an example of an organizational structure for research in which: (1) graduate students gain opportunities to collaborate on research with faculty, (2) teach in their areas of expertise, and (3) begin their mentoring careers. We argue that these structures will help ‘smooth the pipeline’ between graduate school and academic jobs and will be particularly helpful in supporting Ph.D. students from historically underrepresented groups.
From Data Consumers to Producers: Using Online Crowd-sourcing Tools In and Out of the Classroom
In an increasingly data-driven world, calls for improving students’ data literacy are coming from a variety of stakeholders. While these calls have led to important changes in our disciplinary curricula, the focus has largely been on making students better consumers of data. However, because of shifts in the global economy, our students are more likely than ever to also be producers of data. How can we introduce them to that role as part of the university experience? Independent research projects have long served as an important avenue for this type of exploration, but they are time-consuming and are usually only offered as opportunities for a small group of students. I would like to introduce to my colleagues to another strategy: crowd-sourcing projects, either within courses or as part of other co-curricular activities, that can provide an avenue for students to get their feet wet as data producers and allow them to gain confidence and develop skills in a low-stakes setting. This article provides examples of how crowd-sourcing projects might be introduced in a variety of contexts from large introductory to small upper-division courses, as well as in undergraduate research experiences.
Qualitative Replication as a Pedagogical Approach to Teaching Research Methods
Published in PS: Political Science and Politics, 2020
The importance of replication has been a major issue of discussion amongst political scientists since King’s (1996) “Replication, Replication.” However, in the last five years the matter has gained greater traction, with many major journals adopting official standards for Data Access and Research Transparency (DA-RT). At the same time, scholars have suggested the pivotal role that replication might play in methods training for students. Unfortunately, these conversations have been somewhat limited, in that they place an emphasis on quantitative methods and training graduate students. This paper seeks to fill in this hole, offering commentary on our experience introducing a qualitative replication project in an upper-division undergraduate course. The students in the course replicated Michael Ross’ (2004) influential paper on the resource curse and conflict, but the assignment framework can be adopted for a variety of topics and contexts.
Research for All: Creating Opportunities for Undergraduate Research Across the Curriculum
Preprint
With increasing demands for developing students’ data and research literacy, why are these skills commonly relegated to a single introductory methods course? This article discusses the introduction content-related exercises in a lower-division course on International Relations that were intended to introduce students to primary and secondary, quantitative and qualitative evidence. Exercises ask students to read and interpret reports, graphs, and maps; consider measurement strategies and critique operationalization of concepts, access and manipulate data using online dashboards, and perform some basically visualization of data in Excel. The assignment templates can be adapted by faculty across sub-fields.
Show Your Work: Research Transparency in Introductory Methods Courses
The ‘replication crisis’ in the Social Sciences has brought research transparency, reproducibility, and replication to the fore for academic researchers. How can we harness the power of these practices for teaching research methods, particularly to undergraduates? Emphasizing transparency can clarify the process of research, develop skills for evaluation and critique, and empower students to seem themselves as researchers in their own right. This article describes strategies for teaching undergraduates about and through transparent research practices and evaluates the intervention through pre- and post- skills assements and attitudinal surveys.