Student Affect During an HBCU Summer Research Program.

Area of Science:

• Health Professions Education
• Psychology
• Research Training

Background:

• Intensive summer research programs are popular for enhancing student self-efficacy.
• The Summer Research Institute (SRI) at Morgan State University's NIH BUILD program employs an entrepreneurial approach for health research career preparation.
• Bandura's self-efficacy theory (1977) informs the SRI curriculum, emphasizing mastery experiences and emotional arousal.

Purpose of the Study:

• To qualitatively assess student affective changes over time during a summer research training program.
• To evaluate the impact of program components on student affect and self-efficacy.
• To explore the use of journal analysis for assessing research training program effectiveness.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative assessment of bi-weekly journals from 28 students participating in the SRI.
• Analysis of cumulative affective content and changes over the program duration.
• Utilized Linguistic Inquiry Word Count (LIWC) to correlate affect fluctuations with program activities.

Main Results:

• Students exhibited expected fluctuations between positive and negative affect throughout the program.
• A significant increase in overwhelmingly positive affect was observed by the program's conclusion, particularly after final presentations.
• LIWC analysis successfully mapped affective shifts to specific program activities, aiding interpretation.

Conclusions:

• Journal analysis provides valuable insights into student affective responses within research training.
• The SRI curriculum effectively fosters positive affect and likely contributes to increased self-efficacy.
• This methodology offers a novel approach for evaluating the impact of research training programs.