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Factors Influencing Underrepresented Minority Students in Research

Explore how key factors impact URM students' engagement in health science research programs in their first year of college. Analyze data from HERI's CIRP and YFCY surveys to identify strategies for recruitment, retention, and graduation of successful URM scientific researchers. Consider individual, social, and structural elements affecting participation. Develop insights on peer networks, mentorship, and institutional support for URM science majors.

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Factors Influencing Underrepresented Minority Students in Research

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  1. Training Future Scientists:Factors Predicting Underrepresented Minority Student Participation in Undergraduate Research Sylvia Hurtado, M. Kevin Eagan, Nolan L. Cabrera, Monica H. Lin, Julie J. Park, & Miguel Lopez Higher Education Research Institute University of California, Los Angeles Association for Institutional Research Forum Kansas City, MO | June 4, 2007

  2. Background • Demographic shift: Increasing number of underrepresented minority (URM) students entering college • Narrow URM pipeline to graduate science programs • Acculturation into science majors via research

  3. Issues and Challenges • Attrition rates of science majors • Benefits of undergraduate research • URM-specific retention & academic achievement • Increased graduate school enrollment • Student-faculty interaction & mentorship • Importance of the first year of college

  4. Conceptual Framework • Individual • Goal commitment and academic engagement • Collective/social • Institutional agents and peer networks • Structural • Institutional context and student outcomes

  5. Research Questions • What are the key individual, social, and structural factors facilitating or reducing students’ likelihood of participating in a health science research program in their first year of college? • How can institutions improve efforts to recruit, retain, and graduate greater numbers of successful URM scientific researchers?

  6. Data and Sample • Data Source • HERI’s 2004 Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) Freshman Survey and 2005 Your First College Year (YFCY) Survey • Both survey administrations yielded over 26,000 students at 203 four-year institutions • Weighted to correct for non-response bias • Sample • Final analytic sample: 3,095 students at 129 institutions • URM science majors • White/Asian American science majors

  7. Variables • Dependent Variable: Participated in a health science research program • Goal Commitment/ Psychological Sense of Integration • Success at Managing Academic Environment (alpha = 0.78) • Sense of Belonging (alpha = 0.84) • Social Self-Concept (alpha = 0.73) • Academic Self-Concept (alpha = 0.60) • Degree aspirations

  8. Variables (continued) • Social Networks • Interactions with advisors, TAs, and faculty • Course and program participation • Seeking advice from first-year peers and upper-class peers • Work on/off campus • Environmental Pulls • Institutional Characteristics • Size • Selectivity • Resources • Control • Offer first-year research programs in health sciences

  9. Analyses • Descriptive statistics • Preliminary logistic regression • Hierarchical Generalized Linear Modeling • Appropriate for dichotomous outcome • Most robust analysis for multi-level, clustered data • Variables centered around the grand mean • Variables entered in temporally aligned, conceptually related blocks • Two models: Full sample and a sub-sample of 868 Black students, 67 institutions

  10. Descriptive Statistics • 12% of sample participated in health science research program • 32% White, 31% Black, 21% Latina/o, 11% Asian American, 4% American Indian • 77% female • 38% planned for a Ph.D. vs. 40% for an M.D. • 15% participated in a high school research program

  11. Full Sample Health Science Research Model

  12. Black Student Health Science Research Model

  13. Health Science Research Program Characteristics

  14. Characteristics of Institutions Offering Health Science Research Programs

  15. Discussion • Structure of opportunity • Pragmatic concerns met by research experience • Goal commitments & engagement factors • Peer networks/social capital

  16. Implications for Practice • Use of upper-division students • Outreach directly to communities of color • Promote financial benefits • Promoting cross-racial interactions

  17. This study was made possible by the support of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, NIH Grant Number 1 RO1 GMO71968-01. This independent research and the views expressed here do not indicate endorsement by the sponsor. For more information on the project and copies of the paper: http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/heri/nih

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