OUR grounds its work in the scholarly literature on undergraduate research. This literature informs our day-to-day decisions regarding our programs and services and motivates our efforts to connect undergraduates with meaningful research opportunities on campus and beyond. Taken as a whole, this literature suggests that undergraduate research – with its emphasis on active learning, iterative problem solving, and close mentoring relationships – can make a powerful contribution to students’ academic, professional, and personal growth.

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Academic Impacts

Studies have consistently characterized undergraduate research as a high-impact practice, a mode of educational engagement that has significant positive effects on undergraduate learning, engagement, and academic success.  Of all high-impact practices, undergraduate research is shown to have the highest levels of efficacy when measuring student engagement and impact.

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Engagement in undergraduate research has been associated with several positive student outcomes. Peer-reviewed evaluations of research experiences at a diverse set of institutions including California State University at Long Beach, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater offer similar findings regarding the relationship between participation in undergraduate research and degree persistence: student participants are more likely to complete their undergraduate degrees. Similarly, peer-reviewed studies of undergraduate research have found that these transformative experiences promote the attainment of higher cumulative GPAs at graduation.

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Professional Impacts

Participation in research facilitates undergraduates’ readiness for success in their career destinations after graduation.

 

The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) has identified eight core competencies associated with career readiness in new college graduates. In NACE’s model, a recent graduate’s readiness for career success is linked to their capacity to:

• identify opportunities for personal and professional growth,

• communicate,

• think critically,

• promote practices that support success for all,

• lead,

• conduct themselves with professionalism,

• work productively with others,

• and use technology effectively.

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Engaging in undergraduate research contributes to the development of these competencies. Students commonly report gains in their understanding of research methods, their capacity to evaluate evidence, and their grasp of research ethics, among other positive outcomes.

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Personal Impacts

Student engagement in research is rarely in isolation.  Rather, students build meaningful professional and peer mentor relationships with faculty, experienced students, and other connected researchers within their fields of interest. The combination of research engagement combined with these powerful forms of mentorship can lead to significant gains in confidence, self-efficacy, and goal orientation for participating students – especially students from underrepresented populations.

 

Additionally, participating in research can be a powerful vehicle for developing deeper self-knowledge and identifying potential areas of career specialization, saving students years of time in better developing a meaningful understanding of their areas of interest and passion.