CeAL Case Studis in Active Learning

1. Student Training in Active Research (STAR)

2. Contact details

Name and address:
Dr Simone Schnall
University of Plymouth
School of Psychology
Portland Square
Plymouth PL4 8AA Tel: 01752 238 568
Email: simone.schnall@plymouth.ac.uk

3. Context

• Institution / Department: University of Plymouth, School of Psychology
• Title of initiative: Student Training in Active Research (STAR)
• Level: Year 2

4. Brief Description

The goal of the Student Training in Active Research (STAR) initiative is to provide an educational experience to undergraduate students, by exposing them to the process of conducting cutting-edge research under the supervision of members of academic staff. The initiative uses a two-pronged approach: First, an expansion of the existing, and highly successful Placement Scheme provides a year of full-time research employment. Second, the newly conceived Research Apprenticeship Scheme offers part-time opportunities to get involved in research alongside the regular Stage 2 curriculum.

5. Issues of Department / Institution Organisation

Both streams of the initiative have in common that they expose students to problem-based learning within a research-active department. Students conduct research under the supervision of a member of academic staff, and are involved in various aspects of the research process. These may include, but are not limited to, literature review, planning and design of research studies, preparation of research materials, data collection, data analyses and manuscript preparation. The precise involvement varies depending on the nature of the research and is determined by the staff member supervising the student. Students are expected to attend meetings of research groups, and are offered the opportunity to participate in the annual research conference of the School. The two streams of the STAR initiative differ as described below.

Stream 1: Research Placement Year
Each year, about 30-40 students of the School’s Stage 2 cohort do industrial placements. Thus, the Placement Year Scheme has been very well received by students, and feedback from those who participated indicates that they consider it an invaluable experience. However, although some placements have taken place within the School of Psychology itself, this aspect of the Scheme has remained underdeveloped, and underused by students. We thus decided to make placements involving research opportunities into an integral part of the Placement Scheme. This not only increases the range and number of placement opportunities available to students, but also targets students who might otherwise be unlikely pursue a placement. Indeed, many students who in principle wish to do a placement are faced with financial obstacles as many placements are unpaid, or personal and family circumstances prevent them from considering placements outside the Plymouth area.

Stream 2: Research Apprenticeship
Although many students express interest in doing a placement year when they start University, only a subset of them eventually pursues a placement. One reason for this, in addition to financial considerations, may be the fact that time on the course is increased by one more year. Thus, it may be preferable for some students to gain practical experience alongside their regular studies, rather than taking out an entire year. Thus, the School now  offers an unpaid Research Apprenticeship Scheme. Within this scheme, students work with a supervisor for a specified amount of time (normally 4 hours per week) during their second year at the University. Students can apply to do the apprenticeship for any (or all) of the following terms during Stage 2: Term 1, Term 2, Summer Period. Thus, the Research Apprenticeship enables students to gain some of the same benefits of the Research Placement Year within a shorter period of time. This scheme has received funding from the university’s research-informed teaching initiative, which provides funding for students to cover research expenses (e.g., participant payment, cost for experimental materials or transport). However, the work itself, performed as part of the scheme is unpaid. The following benefits to both students and staff have been identified, and evaluations of the first year of the scheme have confirmed that participating individuals indeed appreciate these benefits:

Benefits to Students:

• Intensive one-on-one training with staff member
• First hand experience of cutting-edge research
• Problem-based learning as preparation for stage 3 project
• Opportunity to receive detailed letter of recommendation from staff member
• Training relevant to possible post-graduate study
• Enhanced student employability

Benefits to School of Psychology, and University:

• Widening participation by expanding the successful placement scheme and providing opportunities for students who are financially disadvantaged or unable to work outside of Plymouth due to existing personal or family commitments
• Recruitment of students for possible post-graduate study
• Increased Research Output
• Improved quality of Stage 3 projects

6. Issues of Student Selection and Support

The scheme is open to all Stage 2 students who wish to participate, and who identify a staff supervisor who has agreed to take them on. A limited amount of funding is given out on a competitive basis, but covers only research expenses and consumables, such as participant payment, questionnaire expenses, etc. The work conducted by the student is unpaid. If the supervisor deems it possible and practical to conduct the research without such funding, the student can still participate in the scheme.

7. Issues of Student Reward

Students are not paid and do not receive course credit. However, upon successful completion of the scheme, they receive a letter from the Head of School confirming their participation. The School recently had an extended discussion at the staff meeting regarding whether students should receive credit for the apprenticeship. However, it was concluded that it would be very difficult to develop a consistent marking scheme that would be applicable to all the different tasks that apprentices get involved in, including behavioural observation, literature review, data coding, participant testing, data analyses, and so on. As a consequences, preparation of a research report that could be marked would be more suitable for some projects than others. In addition, if the apprenticeship received credit we would have to be more strict about enforcing application deadlines: Currently, unfunded students have occasionally been able to participate if the staff member was willing to take them on just at the start of the term. Finally, several students participated for more than one term, so it would be difficult to apply the same evaluation criteria across students who participated in the scheme for different amounts of time. Thus, the conclusion was taken that in order to maintain the flexibility of the scheme, it would continue to be run on a volunteer basis.

8. Does it work?

Evaluation of the Scheme for Year 1

Participation:
Number of Student Applications for Year-Long Research Placement: 4 (1 funded)
Number of Student Applications Research Apprenticeship (for one term): 37 (27 funded), out of a Year 2 cohort of 242 students. There were no formal selection criteria, but applicants needed to get confirmation from the member of staff that he/she was willing to supervise the student.
Number of Staff Supervisors: 16 out of 34.  Some projects involved more than one student.

Summary of Evaluation Results:
All participants were giving a survey to complete after completion of the scheme. The findings of our first evaluation were extremely positive. All respondents judged that taking part was a good experience. Both staff and students judged the benefits to be high, with staff indicating that they thought students had learned a lot. The greatest learning was for research methods but students were also judged to have gained knowledge of the specific topic area and psychology in general. In addition, students were judged to have gained broader benefits in preparation for their future studies and employment.

Students said that they would be more likely to consider doing a postgraduate degree in research as a result of their experience. Staff benefits were also judged to be high. The strongest ratings were for research output but staff also agreed that the experience contributed to ideas for future research and grants and that it helped them to identify potential postgraduate students.

Detailed Results: Perceived Benefits to Students, and Overall Evaluation of Scheme

On almost all categories students gave an average rating of 6 or more out of 7, indicating that they perceived the benefits of taking part in the scheme as very high (see Table 1).

Table 1: Students’ perceived benefits of Research Apprenticeship Scheme

Note: Ratings based on scale from 1 = not at all beneficial to 7 = extremely beneficial

Many students selected the top rating (7) when rating their overall experience with the scheme, and when considering whether they would recommend participation of the scheme to a friend.

Table 2: Students’ overall impression of scheme

9. Key advice

The success of the scheme has been largely due to its flexibility: Student and staff supervisors can develop a project within the general specifics of the scheme, but it is up to them to work out a mutually beneficial arrangement. This has made it rewarding for individuals involved in the scheme, while at the same time reducing administrative demands of the person running the scheme as a whole.

10. What leadership issues have arisen?

The initiative has overall been very well received; no significant issues have arisen. 
The interest and participation in the scheme surpassed our expectations, and students overall expressed great satisfaction with the supervision they received. They even found basic tasks such as data collection or data coding to be useful training for their upcoming Final Year project.

Overall we have had a good balance between the number of student applicants and staff willing to supervise them. Because participation is voluntary for both parties, it appears that a) the most able and motivated students apply, and b) primarily research-active members of staff with ongoing projects get involved as supervisors. Although the funding for research expenses is modest, it might constitute an additional incentive to members of staff because they not only get a volunteer assistant, but also a small amount of research support to carry out a project that might otherwise not be undertaken.

This case study is also available as a pdf   Student Training in Active Research (STAR) (38Kb Adobe PDF)

06/08/2008

For more information on the Centre for Active Learning contact:
Barbara Rainbow, CeAL Administrator, Tel: +44 (0)1242 714683, E-mail: brainbow@glos.ac.uk
Sonia Chilton, CeAL Administrative Assistant, Tel: +44 (0)1242 714615, E-mail: slchilton@glos.ac.uk