The Influence of the Research Training Environment: Preliminary Data

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The Influence of the Research Training
Environment Preliminary Data

• Lisa A. Scott Elishann Geiger
• Thelma E. Acquaah-Harrison Hillary Hayes
• Jillian E. Birch Lauren S. Herring
• Kelli M.Campbell Rosalyn C. Leech
• Brittany M. Geiger
• Florida State University
• 2007 American Speech-Language-Convention

2
Presenters Thelma Acquaah-Harrison Jillian
Birch

• Thelma E. Acquah-Harrison (Dr. Lisa Scott)
• Vowel Formant Transitions in Children Adults
  Who Stutter
• Jillian Birch (Dr. Leonard LaPointe)
• The Effects of Cognitive-Linguistic
• Load On Individuals With Multiple
• Sclerosis

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Purpose of the Presentation

• Various resources highlight the need for
  engaging/mentoring students early in their
  academic careers
• We are conducting a study examining the influence
  of undergraduate research experiences on
  students perceptions of research

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Rationale for Facilitating Undergraduate Research
Experiences

• Shortage of students interested in pursuing PhDs
  in Communication Disorders is well-documented
  (ASHA, 2003 ASHA/CAPCSD 2002 Madison, Guy,
  Koch, 2004 Ringel, 2004 Scott Wilcox, 2002)
• 2002 ASHA/CAPCSD Joint Survey findings
• 2003 ASHA Academic Needs Assessment
• Recruiting qualified students into doctoral
  programs has been designated as an ASHA Focused
  Initiative

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ASHA/CAPCSD Survey

• 3 practices may impede the students decision to
  enter a research career
• Heavily concentrating on clinical career
  preparation in both undergraduate and graduate
  curricula
• Talking about research vs. taking concrete
  actions to encourage students who express an
  interest in research
• Delaying focus on predoctoral education until
  students are in their masters program

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Undergraduates Research

• Best evidence from other disciplines suggests
  that
• More research exposure is needed at the
  undergraduate and graduate levels,
• Experiences need to be varied in format, and
• Serious recruitment into research careers needs
  to begin at the undergraduate level waiting
  until graduate school may be too late
• (Chamberlain, 1988 DiBartolo Shutts, 2000
  Falvey, 1991 Fenton, James, Insel, 2004
  Hanser Madsen, 1972 Reynolds, Gatz, 2003
  Vittengl, Bosley, Brescia, Eckardt, Neidig,
  Shelver, 2004)

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Presenters Brittany Geiger Elishann Geiger

• Brittany Geiger (Dr. Carla Wood Jackson)
• Children With Specific Language Impairment
  The Social Side Effects
• Elishann Geiger (Dr. Lisa Scott)
• The Influence of Time Pressure On Fluency
  Language In Adults

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The Research Training Environment

• Gelsos (1979, 1993, 1997) Research Training
  Environment (RTE) Theory
• Based on the scholar-practitioner model
• Research is necessary to advance the discipline
• Evidence-based practice is essential
• Gelsos hypothesis
• Lack of practitioner productivity interest is
  related to inadequacies in the RTE

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Importance of the RTE

• Empirical relationships have been found between
  RTEs and students
• Interest in research
• Research self-efficacy
• Research outcome expectations
• Scholarly productivity
• (Bishop Bieschke, 1998 Gelso, Mallinckrodt,
  Judge, 1996 Kahn 2001 Kahn Miller, 2000 Kahn
  Scott, 1997 Krebs, Smither, Hurley, 1991
  Mallinckrodt Gelso, 2002 Phillips Russell,
  1994)
• The relationships between RTE and these other
  variables are independent of student personality

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Two Dimensions of Effective RTEs (Gelso 1979,
1993, 1997)

• Interpersonal
• Encourage students to become involved in research
  in minimally threatening ways early in their
  training
• Reinforce students for their research efforts
• Emphasize the social elements of conducting
  research
• Include faculty who serve as role models of
  appropriate scientific behavior

• Instructional
• Encourage students to generate ideas from own
  interests
• Teach varied approaches to conducting research
• Stress how science relates to clinical practice
• Let students know that all studies have flaws
• Teach statistics and design in relevant ways

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Positive RTEs Are Not Enough

• Also needed are efforts to
• Provide earlier research instruction and
  experiences
• Ideally, at the undergraduate level
• Pair mentoring with positive RTEs
• When considering gender, relationship styles,
  number of mentors involved, etc. most critical
  factors seem to be
• Involvement of multiple mentors
• Mentors must model desired behaviors themselves
• (Cain, Schulkin, Parisi, Power, Holzman,
  Williams, 2001 Cunic, McLaughlin, Phipps,
  Evans, 2004 Chamberlain, 1988 DiBartolo
  Shutts, 2000 de Janasz Sullivan, 2004 Gibson,
  2004 Hazzard, 1999 Hoyt, 1999 Johnson, 2001
  Wells Grabert, 2004 Williams, Levine,
  Malhotra, Holtzheimer, 2004)

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Presenters Kelli Campbell Lauren Herring

• Kelli Campbell (Dr. Kenn Apel)
• Semantic Fast Mapping In Kindergarteners
  After Minimal Exposure To Nonwords
• Lauren Herring (Dr. Julie Stierwalt)
• The Effects Of Distraction On
• Performance Under Varied Cognitive
• Load

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Our Research Purpose

• Do graduate students who completed an
  undergraduate thesis differ from those who did
  not in
• Demographics (e.g., GPA, GRE scores)
• Perceptions of the undergraduate research
  training environment?
• Attitudes towards research?
• Plans for continued involvement in research?
• Our hypothesis is that students who are actively
  engaged in research experiences as undergraduates
  will have more positive attitudes and increased
  expectations for continuing to participate in
  research in graduate studies

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Method Participants

• Two groups of graduate students are being
  recruited
• 25 graduate students who have completed an
  undergraduate thesis (TG)
• 25 graduate students who have not (NTG)
• Inclusion/exclusion criteria
• Both SLP and AuD emphasis areas are being
  recruited
• Must be between enrolled in a Masters/AuD
  program (not PhD)

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MethodInstrumentation The Undergraduate
Research Experience Survey

• 3 sections, 73 items total
• Demographics
• Attitudes Towards Research (adapted)
• Research Training Environment Scale-Revised
  (adapted)
• 30-45 minutes completion time
• Administered via SurveyMonkey

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Presenters Hillary Hayes Rosalyn Leech

• Hillary Hayes (Dr. Richard Morris)
• The Number Of Presentations Needed For
  Intrarater Reliability Of Choral And Speech
  Stimuli
• Rosalyn Leech (Dr. Carla Wood Jackson)
• English Vocabulary Acquisition In Bilingual
  Preschoolers A Comparison Of Shared Storybook
  Readings Extension Activities

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Section I Demographics

• Age, gender
• GPA (current graduate final undergrad)
• Combined GRE score
• Emphasis area (SLP AuD)
• Undergraduate program information
• Were students encouraged to participate in
  research?
• Was there an undergraduate thesis option? If so,
  did you write one?

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• Graduate enrollment
• Same program as undergrad?
• semesters of enrollment
• Required to participate in a research experience?
• Plan to write a graduate thesis?
• Plan to pursue a PhD?

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Section II Attitudes Towards Research

• Modification of Papanastasious (2005) Attitudes
  Towards Research (ATR) Scale
• In its original form, the ATR scale is comprised
  of 34 items and uses a 1 to 7 strength-of-agreemen
  t response index.
• For the current investigation, however, the scale
  was reduced to 30 questions
• Better reflect the experiences to which UGs most
  likely have been exposed (e.g., eliminating
  questions about statistics courses).
• Also, strength-of-agreement was modified to 1 to
  5, to be consistent with Section III response
  format

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Section IIAttitudes Towards Research Sample Items

• Research is interesting.
• I feel confident in concerning my ability to
  interpret research data.
• Research is useful for my career.
• Research is connected to my field of study.
• Research is useful to every professional.
• Research-oriented thinking plays an important
  role in my daily life.
• Research should be taught to all students.

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Section III Research Training Environment
Scale-Revised

• Modification of Gelsos (1997) Research-Training
  Environment Scale-Revised
• Original form has 54 items organized into 9
  different subscales that assess
  quality/effectiveness of the RTE
• Responses are 1-5 Strength-of-Agreement
• For the URES, we eliminated that were specific to
  counseling psychology or statistics coursework
• Resulted in 38 items used in Section III

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Section IIIResearch Training EnvironmentSample
Items

• The faculty did what it could to make research
  opportunities as rewarding as possible.
• There was informal sharing of research ideas and
  feelings about research in my program.
• Faculty members often invited undergraduate
  students to be responsible collaborators in the
  faculty members own research projects.
• I was encouraged to get involved in some aspects
  of research early in my undergraduate training.

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References

• ASHA (2003). Academic needs assessment 2003
  Executive summary. Retrieved March 2, 2005 from
  http//www.asha.org/members/phd-faculty-research/r
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• ASHA/CAPCSD (2002). Crisis in the discipline A
  plan for reshaping our future. Report of the
  Joint Ad Hoc Committee on the Shortage of PhD
  Students and Faculty in Communication Sciences
  and Disorders. Retrieved April 4, 2005 from
  http//www.capcsd.org/reports/JointAdHocCmteFinalR
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