The Impact of Undergraduate Research Experience Intensity on Measures of Student Success

Abstract

Despite the growing interest to provide research engagement opportunities to undergraduate students, few studies have investigated how engagement “intensity” impacts measures of student success. A quasi-experimental, matched-subject design was employed to study differences between varying levels of research experience intensity (i.e., Experienced, Novice, Control groups) on Graduating GPA, Time to Graduate, and type of post-graduation experience. Results indicated that experienced students had significantly higher graduating GPAs than novice or control students, and both research groups had significantly lower time to graduate than the control group. Findings also indicated experienced student researchers are significantly more likely to progress to graduate school than either novice research or control students. Implications for implementing research initiatives are discussed.

Keywords

• Undergraduate research, student success, GPA, post-graduation activities, time to graduation