Challenges and Supports Experienced by Students Completing a Multi-Semester Capstone Undergraduate Research Experience: Reflections from Program Graduates

Undergraduate research experiences (UREs) have been recognized as high-impact teaching practices in post-secondary science education programs. The variety of structures and strategies to facilitate UREs provide institutions and faculty with many options to foster students’ exposure to scientific research, particularly in primarily undergraduate institutions (PUIs), which often utilize capstone UREs as part of undergraduate science programs. This qualitative research explores graduates’ experiences completing a multi-semester capstone URE while attending a small PUI in the United States. Sixteen recent graduates of STEM undergraduate degrees shared their experience in semi-structured interviews which aimed to identify the perceived challenges and support students experienced during their URE. From a thematic analysis of the data, eight themes emerged that described challenges and supports recognized by students during their UREs. These results, although limited to the participants of our study, detailed students’ challenges related to time investment and unexpected obstacles with research. Several sources of support for students, like peer collaboration, access to research facilities, and faculty mentorship, also emerged from the data. Based on these findings, we offer recommendations to reduce student challenges and create robust support structures for similar capstone UREs.