Twentieth International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities & Nations

Abstract

Students in higher education seek skills that will allow them to pursue their chosen career path with confidence. However, there are questions about how to best do this. Are universities meant to teach students practical skills to be employed directly in the workforce? Or are they meant to teach students to think? Equally importantly, the question remains about how to train workers for the workforce in an increasingly diverse and globalized world. This paper explores the ways that engaging pre-baccalaureate students in undergraduate research projects (whether using quantitative, qualitative, or hybrid methodologies) has the potential to bring together all of the objectives outlined above. By engaging students in research projects where they are asked to combine their intellectual prowess and innovative tendencies with practical (real-world) issues, students can gain ownership over their own learning process. They moreover come to understand why they learn what they learn, rather than seeing the learning process as disposable and applying to one semester and set of exams. The paper is divided into three parts. Firstly, it highlights the benefits and challenges of mentoring undergraduate research and targets best practices and lessons learned from a career of mentoring undergraduate (qualitative) research projects in the social sciences. Secondly, it articulates the ways in which undergraduate research benefit student researchers and helping them diversify their knowledge base as they approach working within an increasingly globalized world. Finally, it identifies available resources (i.e. the Council on Undergraduate Research) open to faculty mentors ranging from novices to veteran professors.