Student experience of final-year undergraduate research projects: an exploration of ‘research preparedness’

Abstract

During this past decade the level of interest in building research capacity has intensified in Australia and internationally, with a particular emphasis on the development of postgraduate research students, but also extending to undergraduate research experience. This study investigated the student experience across a diverse range of fourth-year undergraduate research programs in one Australian university, and explored how this prepared students for further research study. A construct of 'research preparedness' was developed from several factors, including research self-efficacy, motivation, research environment and orientation towards research. Overall, students were motivated to complete their research, and were confident in their ability to carry out the tasks involved in the research process regardless of the program they were undertaking. On the whole, students enrolled in a one-year research program had the strongest intent to continue on to further research studies, and were more likely to show evidence of research preparedness.