scholarly journals Exploring Undergraduate Research Projects Success Factors in Muni University, Uganda

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 84-97
Author(s):  
Nicholas Nkamwesiga ◽  
Phelix Businge Mbabazi ◽  
Ritah Nafuna
Keyword(s):  
Success Factors ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Research Management ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Research Environment ◽  
Research Instrument ◽  
Personal Effectiveness ◽  
Environment Research ◽  
Key Stakeholders ◽  
Teamwork Skills

This paper presents the success factors for undergraduate research projects (URPs) at Muni University. The objectives of the study were to determine the relevant skills required for the success of undergraduate research projects and investigate the roles of students, supervisors and faculty towards the success of URPs. Questionnaires were administered to a population of 70 final-year students. SPSS-v.21 program was used to analyse the data collected. The research instrument was reliable at Chronbach’s alpha 0.9038. Results showed that research, research environment, research management, personal effectiveness, communication, networking and teamwork skills are paramount to the success of URPs. The study found out that the key stakeholders (students, supervisors and faculty) perform their roles throughout the project period. However, there’s a need to have a mechanism for project tracking, filing complaints, and having URPs externally examined among others.

The Trajectory of an Undergraduate Researcher

2022 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-147
Author(s):  
Andrea Bresee ◽  
Joyce Kinkead
Keyword(s):  
Research Methods ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Methods Course ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Undergraduate Research Experiences ◽  
English Majors ◽  
English Major

Abstract This article focuses on the progress of an undergraduate English major on the scholarship continuum outlined by Laurie Grobman (2009). The student engaged in authentic research in a research methods course for English majors, a class that also meets a university requirement of “quantitative intensive,” and she completed two research projects of note. Her journey has implications and significance for faculty in designing undergraduate research experiences.

scholarly journals A Framework for Implementing Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) in Freshman Biology Labs

2016 ◽  
Vol 78 (6) ◽  
pp. 448-455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arundhati Bakshi ◽  
Lorelei E. Patrick ◽  
E. William Wischusen
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Research University ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Implementation Barriers ◽  
Research Experiences ◽  
Undergraduate Research Experiences ◽  
Widespread Implementation ◽  
Flexible Framework ◽  
Large Research

There have been many calls to make research experiences available to more undergraduate students. One way to do this is to provide course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), but providing these on a scale large enough to accommodate many students can be a daunting undertaking. Indeed, other researchers have identified time to develop materials and course size as significant barriers to widespread implementation of CUREs. Based on our own experiences implementing CUREs at a large research university, we present a flexible framework that we have adapted to multiple research projects, share class materials and rubrics we have developed, and suggest logistical strategies to lower these implementation barriers.

scholarly journals Understanding Practices and Critical Success Factors of FDA Human Factors Validation Projects – Preliminary Findings

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 166-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katia M. Rojas ◽  
Leon Cosler ◽  
Daryl L. Santos
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Human Factors ◽  
Critical Success Factors ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Success Factors ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Critical Success ◽  
Key Stakeholders

Since the FDA published guidance on the application of human factors engineering to medical devices and combination products, the concerns about the quality and success of human factors validation projects have put a strain on key stakeholders. Failed HF validation submissions can have serious negative impact not only on manufacturers and HF service providers, but also on the regulatory system and patients. Previously, we remarked on the need for alignment between key stakeholders, and strategies that increase the quality and success of HF validation projects. Leveraging the application of project management was recommended for that purpose. However, there is currently no research about characteristics, practices and critical success factors of these projects. An online survey instrument was developed tailored to this specific context to inform the development of an industry-focused project management maturity assessment tool (which will be Phase II of this research). In this opportunity, the high-level, preliminary findings are presented and briefly discussed. This effort contributes much needed literature regarding the current practices and factors that influence the quality and success of FDA HF validation projects.

Making It Count: Using Real-World Projects for Course Assignments

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 314-324
Author(s):  
Jason Wollschleger
Keyword(s):  
Nonprofit Organizations ◽  
Real World ◽  
Applied Research ◽  
Student Evaluation ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
High Impact ◽  
Course Evaluations ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Evaluation Scores ◽  
Previous Scholarship

Previous scholarship has demonstrated the value of high-impact practices of community engagement, inquiry-based pedagogy, and collaborative learning for engagement and learning in sociology courses, especially undergraduate research methods and statistics. This article explores the changes made to an upper-division undergraduate course focused on applied research practices and community-level interventions. After teaching the course once as a lecture-based course with assignments that simulated real projects and receiving poor student evaluation scores, I revised the course by partnering with local nonprofit organizations that were in need of research assistance. I turned the major graded assignments into real-world research projects that would ultimately be presented to the local organization, thus making everything actually count—in the real world. The findings from surveys of students, course evaluations, and assessment of group projects suggest that students found this to improve their experience of the course and to increase their learning and engagement of the material and confidence in their ability to conduct applied research on their own.

Structures, Practices, and Policies to Support Community-Engaged Scholarship at the Community College

2020 ◽  
pp. 172-186
Author(s):  
Mary Ann Bodine Al-Sharif ◽  
Hugo García
Keyword(s):  
Community College ◽  
Community Colleges ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Postsecondary Institutions ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Engaged Scholarship ◽  
Community Engaged Scholarship ◽  
Large Corpus

This chapter illuminates the ways in which community colleges can develop and enhance their community-engaged scholarship (CES) to ensure they meet the needs of the local communities they are a part of. Indeed, community-engaged scholarship (CES) has been seen as a vehicle to support local communities by creating partnerships with postsecondary institutions to ensure research is conducted in a way that is mutually beneficial. The authors first explore the large corpus of literature regarding undergraduate research and then present a select number of community colleges that have been successful in incorporating undergraduate research projects. They then present how CES has been defined and how it has been implemented within a higher education context. They then proceed to introduce a CES conceptual model and explain how community colleges can utilize the model to support the institutionalization of CES programs. They conclude with recommendations for future research.

scholarly journals Student and faculty outcomes of undergraduate science research projects by geographically dispersed students

2013 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawton Shaw ◽  
Dietmar Kennepohl
Keyword(s):  
Distance Education ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Local Area ◽  
Pass Rates ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Geographically Dispersed ◽  
Undergraduate Science ◽  
Research Students

<p>Senior undergraduate research projects are important components of most undergraduate science degrees. The delivery of such projects in a distance education format is challenging. Athabasca University (AU) science project courses allow distance education students to complete research project courses by working with research supervisors in their local area, coordinated at a distance by AU faculty. This paper presents demographics and course performance for 155 students over five years. Pass rates were similar to other distance education courses. Research students were surveyed by questionnaire, and external supervisors and AU faculty were interviewed, to examine the outcomes of these project courses for each group. Students reported high levels of satisfaction with the course, local supervisors, and faculty coordinators. Students also reported that the experience increased their interest in research, and the probability that they would pursue graduate or additional certification. Local supervisors and faculty affirmed that the purposes of project courses are to introduce the student to research, provide opportunity for students to use their cumulative knowledge, develop cognitive abilities, and independent thinking. The advantages and challenges associated with this course model are discussed.</p>

scholarly journals Harnessing the Undiscovered Resource of Student Research Projects

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 605-607 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon E. Grahe ◽  
Alan Reifman ◽  
Anthony D. Hermann ◽  
Marie Walker ◽  
Kathryn C. Oleson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Educational Experience ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Student Research ◽  
Good Test ◽  
Geographic Locations ◽  
Student Researchers ◽  
Hypothetical Question ◽  
Psychological Studies

This article suggests that undergraduate research can help advance the science of psychology. We introduce a hypothetical “question-list paradigm” as a mechanism to do this. Each year, thousands of undergraduate projects are completed as part of the educational experience. Although many of these studies may not contain sufficient contributions for publication, they provide a good test of the replicability of established findings across populations at different institutions and geographic locations. Thus, these projects could meet the needs of recent calls for increased replications of psychological studies while simultaneously benefiting the student researchers, their instructors, and the field in general.

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