Engaging Undergraduates in Science Research: Not Just About Faculty Willingness.

Despite the many benefits of involving undergraduates in research and the growing number of undergraduate research programs, few scholars have investigated the factors that affect faculty members' decisions to involve undergraduates in their research projects. We investigated the individual factors and institutional contexts that predict faculty members' likelihood of engaging undergraduates in their research project(s). Using data from the Higher Education Research Institute's 2007-2008 Faculty Survey, we employ hierarchical generalized linear modeling to analyze data from 4,832 science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) faculty across 194 institutions to examine how organizational citizenship behavior theory and social exchange theory relate to mentoring students in research. Key findings show that faculty who work in the life sciences and those who receive government funding for their research are more likely to involve undergraduates in their research project(s). In addition, faculty at liberal arts or historically Black colleges are significantly more likely to involve undergraduate students in research. Implications for advancing undergraduate research opportunities are discussed

Curriculum matters: Creating a positive climate for diversity from the student perspective

The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors that predict students’ perceptions of their institution’s success in achieving a positive climate for diversity. This study examines a sample of 544 students at a large, public, predominantly White Mid-Western institution. Results show that students’ perceptions of the institution’s ability to achieve a positive climate for diversity is a reflection of students’ precollege interactions with diverse peers and the institution’s ability to incorporate diversity-related issues into its curriculum. Results also indicate that these perceptions differ by race and gender. Implications for institutional researchers are discussed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43632/1/11162_2005_Article_2967.pd

Undergraduate political attitudes: An examination of peer, faculty, and social influences

A socialization perspective is used to examine the processes through which undergraduate student political attitudes are influenced by peers, faculty, and social trends. Using the model of undergraduate socialization provided by Weidman (1989) as a framework, I examine how the normative contexts of college campuses and students' interactions with peers and faculty serve to influence the political orientations of students, net of precollege and college characteristics. Based on longitudinal data from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program, the results indicate that student orientations change in ways quite similar to trends observed more generally, and that peer and faculty normative contexts tend to have a positive influence of equal magnitude on political orientations of students.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/43617/1/11162_2005_Article_BF01724937.pd

Meta-Analysis in Higher Education: An Illustrative Example Using Hierarchical Linear Modeling

The purpose of this article is to provide higher education researchers with an illustrative example of meta-analysis utilizing hierarchical linear modeling (HLM). This article demonstrates the step-by-step process of meta-analysis using a recently-published study examining the effects of curricular and co-curricular diversity activities on racial bias in college students as an example (Denson, Rev Educ Res 79:805-838, 2009). The authors present an overview of the meta-analytic approach and describe a meta-analysis from beginning to end. The example includes: problem specification; research questions; study retrieval and selection; coding procedure; calculating effect sizes; visual displays and summary statistics; conducting HLM analyses; and sensitivity analyses. The authors also offer guidelines and recommendations for improving the conduct and reporting of research which in turn can provide the information necessary for future and more comprehensive meta-analytic reviews

Economics education and value change: The role of program-normative homogeneity and peer influence

In the light of corporate scandals and the recent financial crisis, there has been an increased interest in the impact of business education on the value orientations of graduates. Yet our understanding of how students' values change during their time at business school is limited. In this study,weinvestigate the effects of variations in the normative orientations of economics programs. We argue that interaction among economics students constitutes a key mechanism of value socialization, the effects of which are likely to vary across more-or-less normatively homogeneous economics programs. In normatively homogeneous programs, students are particularly likely to adopt economics values as a result of peer interaction. We specifically explore changes in power, hedonism, and self-direction values in a 2-year longitudinal study of economics students (N 5 197) in a normatively homogeneous and two normatively heterogeneous economics programs. As expected, for students in a normatively homogeneous economics program, interaction with peers was linked with an increase in power and hedonism values, and a decrease in self-direction values. Our findings highlight the interplay between program normative homogeneity and peer interaction as an important factor in value socialization during economics education and have important practical implications for business school leaders