Author ORCID Identifier
Semester
Spring
Date of Graduation
2023
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Type
PhD
College
College of Applied Human Sciences
Committee Chair
Abhik Roy
Committee Member
John Campbell
Committee Member
Sharon Hayes
Committee Member
Cinthia Pacheco
Abstract
This dissertation aimed to explore mentorship in undergraduate research (UR) contexts. Specifically, the work aimed to provide three perspectives of mentorship from the perspectives of both mentors and mentees in undergraduate research. These three studies contributed to a greater understanding of the experiences, conceptualizations, and contextual factors that impact mentorship in the UR setting.
Highlighted in the first study were the storied experiences of eight faculty members who had served as a mentor to undergraduate students at a mid-Atlantic, research-intensive university from a range of research disciplines. Results of the first study highlighted the impact of faculty members’ initial and early experiences with mentorship which most often occurred as mentees themselves. Further, results described how participants refined their approaches to mentorship and outlined their most current approaches to UR mentorship.
With the aim of further understanding mentorship from a different perspective, the second study aimed to understand mentorship from the mentee’s perspective. The stories of six undergraduate researchers’ experiences with mentorship were presented. Participants shared the critical role of instrumental and psychosocial support in who they identified as mentors. In addition, participants noted the importance of their mentors’ support when engaging in research dissemination and independent research projects.
The third had two aims. First, the study aimed to consider the benefits and limitations of the paired use of thematic analysis and a topic clustering algorithm. Results indicated that while the outcomes of each approach varied slightly when paired outcomes were complimentary. The second aim of the study was to contextualize the results in an UR setting. Results outlined how mentors approach mentorship and three contexts that impact mentorship.
In all, this work fills a notable gap in the literature related to the experiences of faculty members engaging in the work of providing undergraduate researchers mentorship. Namely, the individualized experiences of faculty mentors are presented, outlining each participant’s story in a narrative format. Further, students’ experiences of mentorship are shared in a similar format. Finally, approaches to mentorship and contexts impacting mentorship provide insight into the shared stories of participants in the first two studies. Thus, the dissertation provided considerable insight into the experiences of mentors in UR settings.
Recommended Citation
Ferguson, Carinna F., "Understanding Mentorship in Undergraduate Research: Three Perspectives on Experiencing, Conceptualizing, and Contextualizing Mentorship" (2023). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 11743.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/11743
Embargo Reason
Publication Pending