Participating in research as an undergraduate is well known to benefit students as they develop into confident and skilled researchers. Students can hone their technical skills, critical thinking, and ability to collaborate and communicate their findings. Despite these benefits, some students still decide to leave their undergraduate research labs prior to completing their undergraduate degree.If these experiences are so beneficial, why are students leaving them prematurely?
A group of researchers, including 14 undergraduate students participating in ASU’s LEAP Scholars program, set out to answer this question. They surveyed life sciences students from 25 research-intensive public universities nationwide who were currently participating in or had previously participated in undergraduate research. Surprisingly, half of the students surveyed considered leaving their undergraduate research experiences, and of those students over half ultimately did decide to leave!
So what factors come into play in these students’ decisions to stay or leave?
Interestingly, some of the reasons students chose to stay are also the reasons other students chose to leave. For example, of the students who did not leave their research labs, many reported gaining important skills and knowledge or enjoying their everyday tasks as reasons to stay. Conversely, of students who considered leaving, many reported not gaining important skills and knowledge or not enjoying their everyday tasks. This highlights the importance of not only giving undergraduates meaningful tasks, but also ensuring they understand the relevance of the skills they’re developing through these tasks and how they play into the bigger picture of gaining research knowledge.
Positive Lab Environment
Overall lab environment showed to be a major contributor for both students who stayed and students who left their research experiences. A positive lab environment was a highly reported reason why some students never considered leaving their research labs, while a negative lab environment was a significant predictor for both considering leaving as well as actually leaving research. Additionally, three influential aspects of the lab environment arose; feeling included/excluded, social support/negative social interactions, and fairness in the lab. It may seem simple, but feeling included and supported as well as being treated fairly can make a world of difference to an undergraduate first starting off in research. It is imperative that faculty, grad students, other undergrads, and everybody in the lab work to help foster this welcoming lab environment.
Supportive Mentors
Mentors also play a key role in retaining undergraduate researchers, both by developing positive relationships and providing appropriate guidance. On one side of the spectrum, mentors were reported by students who stayed in research as one of their reasons for staying. On the other hand, research mentors and insufficient guidance were each reported as factors that contributed to students considering leaving. This shows how mentor relationships can be a make or break factor for many undergraduates. Regularly scheduled meetings between mentor and student to discuss progress, future directions, and even the overall well-being of the student are just one way mentors can help provide a more positive and productive research experience for undergraduates.
Finally, balancing the workload of being an undergraduate student who is also involved in research can be difficult. Many students who considered leaving research reported not enough time to dedicate to their research as a contributing factor. However, a lab’s willingness to be flexible with time was a reported reason for why students stayed. While mentors cannot control how much time a student has in a day to conduct their research, they can be flexible and accommodating to student schedules. This flexibility can allow for better time management conditions on the student’s end, which may in turn lead to better research satisfaction and retention.
So while conducting research as an undergraduate is known to beneficial, for some students the cost of a negative experience outweighs these benefits and causes them to leave their research. Supportive and flexible research mentors, a positive and welcoming lab environment, and being assigned and taught appropriate tasks and skills are all areas that have shown to be of great importance for student success in their research experiences. By providing these to undergraduate researchers, we can help build and retain better scientists for the future.
To learn more, check out the published paper in PLOS ONE: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0220186
Author: Rachel Scott is a recent graduate of ASU’s microbiology B.S. program and a former participant in the LEAP Scholars Program. She is currently the project coordinator for ASU’s HHMI Inclusive Excellent Project.
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