This project the University of North Texas (UNT) Department of Anthropology is a continuation of funding for an existing program providing quality research experience for undergraduates (REU). The current project will represent an opportunity not only to continue the existing program through 2012, but to utilize ongoing program evaluations and outcome monitoring to more finely hone the program as developed, assess its outcomes over a longer term, and disseminate the results. Objectives. 1) To expose under-represented minority and first-generation undergraduate students to research methods in cultural anthropology; 2) To prepare students for competitive application to McNair Scholars Programs or similar mentoring programs on their home campuses; 3) To foster undergraduate interest in research and to increase their ability to pursue grant opportunities and graduate study, all with the aim of developing their academic career goals; 4) To apply insights gained from previous years of systematic program evaluation to continue refining the program; 5) To use systematic methods to evaluate the program?s long-term effectiveness in terms of both its impact on undergraduate research activity and its contribution to quality social science research; 6) To publish the results of the analyses described in Objective 5. Activities and Students to be Recruited. Since 2000, UNT has been funded by NSF to provide intensive, quality research mentoring to minority and/or first-generation (for whom neither parent went to college) undergraduates, particularly those coming from junior and community colleges. This has been accomplished through intensive, 10 week programs each summer, with the first five weeks instructing fundamental cultural anthropology research techniques, and the second five weeks offering individualized research experiences. In the current proposal, as in previous years, nine minority or first-generation students will be selected each year for training in four major areas of cultural anthropology research: historical and testimonial case studies, participant observation, conducting focus group studies, qualitative data analysis on text-interview material, and quantitative analysis of census and survey data. Students will also be taught the techniques and critical thinking skills necessary for conducting resource material location, library research, and the use of the Internet for research purposes. Throughout the 10-weeks, students are exposed to such topics as writing research results, reading comprehension, stages of research, validity and reliability, critical thinking, note-taking during research, getting published, and presenting at conferences. Students also participate in the UNT McNair Scholars? Friday Seminar, in order to stimulate student interaction with the McNair Scholars Program. Students are, and will continue to be followed, to assess the impact of the REU on their college and postcollege research careers.
Intellectual merit: Currently, nine years of funding have allowed the beginning of analysis of the longer-term impact of the program, both in terms of its continuing effect on REU graduates, and the significant contributions its graduates are able to make to research in the social sciences. The information to be gathered, analyzed, and disseminated between 2009-2012 should be rich in both the useful evaluation and practical application of intensive mentoring programs, and the longer-term influence of such programs on the academic and career trajectories of first-generation and under-represented undergraduates. An extension of funding would provide a valuable opportunity to track and monitor programmatic outcomes over time.
Broader impacts. Results of the program to date are demonstrable and encouraging. In follow-up surveys with our REU graduates, 75% of those from the first funding cycle have gone on to graduate school; 58 % of graduates from the second funding cycle have gone on to graduate school, and 40% of participants from the third funding cycle have so far gone on to graduate school (100% of the 2008 participants indicate an intent, but have not graduated). The existing UNT REU program funded by NSF thus provides a baseline of longitudinal evaluative data to be built upon in the current application. In qualitative interviews, they voice the broader impact of the program on their intellectual and professional development, their confidence, and their appetite for researching the world.
