Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Along For The Journey: Graduate Student Perceptions Of Research, Alissa Droog, Kari D. Weaver, Frances Brady

Faculty Peer-Reviewed Publications

Graduate student identities and personal lives are heavily tied to their experiences of research, and many struggle to find, understand, and use information for research purposes. Using a drawing exercise rooted in visual research methods combined with semi-structured interviews, a research team in the United States and Canada explored graduate student perceptions of research with 19 participants. Thematic analysis identified six themes: research is abstract; research is an odyssey; social support makes or breaks the student experience; research is an emotional continuum; interplay between identity/values; information is problematic. The study has implications for how librarians support graduate student research.

Graduate Students' E-Book Awareness And Usage At A Public Research University In The U.S.A., Denise Brush, Daniel G. Kipnis

Libraries Scholarship

Purpose

This study aims to understand the level of graduate students’ awareness and usage of e-books purchased by the authors’ university library since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors created a Qualtrics survey with 13 questions that was sent to the university’s graduate student email list. The survey was sent in the fall of 2023 and was open for one month. The list had 3,318 subscribers; 113 complete responses were received, for a response rate of 3.4%.

Findings

The results found that doctoral students (80%) are more aware than master’s students (64%) of e-book availability through the library, and usage …

Dna Ancestry Testing And Racial Discourse In Higher Education: How The (Re)Biologization Of Race (Un)Settles Monoracialism For Graduate Students, Orkideh Mohajeri, Marc P. Johnston-Guerrero, Anita K. Foeman, Bessie Lee Lawton

Communication and Media Faculty Publications

The recent proliferation of DNA testing in both popular culture and higher education calls to question whether such testing reifies race as a biological construct and, in particular, whether or not it disrupts or reinforces monoracial categorizations. Graduate students, who are often at a point in their educational journeys to further question and critique commonly held ideas, provide a unique lens through which to investigate discourses surrounding DNA testing. In this qualitative study, we analyze data from four focus groups with 22 racially diverse U.S. graduate students who had recently completed an ancestry test. We identify two specific discourses that …

How Do Graduate Students Approach College Teaching? Influences Of Professional Development, Teaching Assistantships, And Big Five Personality Traits, Elizabeth S. Che, Patricia J. Brooks, Anna M. Schwartz, Ethlyn S. Saltzman, Ronald C. Whiteman

Publications and Research

Introduction: Graduate students engage in college teaching with varied attitudes and approaches. Their teaching practices may be influenced by professional development experiences related to pedagogy, and their personality traits.

Methods: Through an online survey of graduate students teaching undergraduate courses (N = 109, 69.7% women, M age = 30 years, 59% psychology), we examined whether self-reported participation in professional development related to pedagogy, teaching assistantship (TA) experience, academic discipline (psychology vs. other), and Big Five personality traits were associated with variation in teaching practices.

Results: Participation in professional development correlated positively with years of undergraduate teaching experience and with …

Unpacking The Graduate Student Research Experience: Findings From A Drawing-Based Interview Study, Alissa Droog, Frances Brady, Kari D. Weaver

Faculty Peer-Reviewed Publications

What do graduate students think research is? How do they come to be scholars and how can we as information professionals better support their needs?

Using a drawing exercise rooted in visual research methods (Hartel, 2017; Doucette & Hoffman, 2019; Bryans & Mavin, 2006), a cross-institutional research team in the United States and Canada explore these questions through an interview-based study of graduate student perceptions of research.

At present, the existing body of knowledge examining student perceptions of research strongly focuses on undergraduates (Griffioen, 2019; Insua et al., 2018), leaving a critical gap in theory and pedagogy needed to support …

A Degree Of Difference: Haylee Cook Among Ouachita's First Master's Cohort In Aba, Felley Lawson, Ouachita News Bureau

Press Releases

A couple years out of college, Haylee Cook knew her calling. She just didn’t know what it was called. After Cook earned a degree in psychology from Henderson State University, she and her husband, Matthew, a 2014 Ouachita graduate, left Arkadelphia so that he could pursue family ministry at a church in Alabama. When the couple’s daughter, Leland, was born, “I had zero motivation for graduate school,” Cook said. “I wanted to be the best mom I could be, and support Matthew in his ministry.”

Information Seeking Behaviors, Attitudes, And Choices Of Academic Physicists, Ian D. Gordon, Debbie Chaves, Dylanne Dearborn, Shawn Hendrikx, Rebecca Hutchinson, Christopher Popovich, Michael White

Western Libraries Publications

Physicists in academic institutions utilize a variety of resources and strategies to seek, find, and use scholarly information and news. Using a sample of physicists, researchers surveyed 182 students and faculty at seven Canadian university institutions to explore self-perceived success rates, resources consulted, databases used, and use of social media and citation management systems. To complement the survey, 11 follow up interviews/focus groups were completed with participants to further uncover information-seeking behaviors, choices, strategies, and feelings around keeping up to date with information needs. According to survey results, a minority of physicists (15.4%) acknowledged that they were successfully keeping up …

Dr. Julyse Horr: A Scientist-Practitioner Led By Faith, Kiki Schleiff Cherry, Ouachita News Bureau

Press Releases

Dr. Julyse Migan-Gandonou Horr, Ouachita’s new director of applied behavior analysis, credits her faith with bringing her to where she is today. “I can look back now and see how God was guiding me every step of the way,” said Horr (pronounced “haw”). “In each chapter of my life, he put the right people in place at just the right time.”

Information Literacy Instruction For International Graduate Engineering Students: A Case Study At University Of Windsor, Guoying Liu

Leddy Library Publications

In recent years, the University of Windsor has seen a significant increase in international student enrolments, especially in the graduate engineering programs. Previous studies indicate that international students often have difficulties in developing information literacy skills. Furthermore, many engineering students lack library research skills essential for succeeding in academic study. However, there is a scarcity of studies focusing on information literacy instruction for international engineering students and existing research in this area seldom utilizes statistical analysis methods to determine the effectiveness of the instruction. This paper aims to fill in the literature gap by examining the impact of an information …

Dissertations Content Analysis Data Set, "Diving Deep Into Dissertations" Article, College & Research Libraries, Mandy J. Swygart-Hobaugh M.L.S., Ph.D., Raeda Anderson, Denise George, Joel Glogowski

University Library Faculty Publications

We present findings from an exploratory quantitative content analysis case study of 156 doctoral dissertations from Georgia State University that investigates doctoral student researchers’ methodology practic es (used quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods) and data practices (used primary data, secondary data, or both). We discuss the implications of our findings for provision of data support services provided by the Georgia State University Library’s Res earch Data Services (RDS) Team and subject liaison librarians in the areas of instructional services, data software support and licensing advocacy, collection development, marketing/outreach, and professional development/expansion.

Embodying Integration: A Sociological Study Of Graduate Student Religiosity In Christian Higher Education, Daniel Allen

Faculty Scholarship – Sociology

Social science research has historically posited an inverse relationship between higher education levels and spirituality, but recent research has nuanced this assumption. Faith formation is a celebrated part of Christian higher education in particular, and graduate programs have grown among Protestant Christian institutions in recent years. However, little research addresses graduate student perceptions of the spiritual quality of their experience. This study asks what program-level features correlate with a high-quality spiritual experience for graduate students studying in a Protestant Christian context. Using data collected between 2014-2020 from 3,274 graduate students at a private, not-for-profit Christian university, we find that students …

Next Generation Practitioner-Scholars Navigating Community Engagement Professional Development: A Collaborative Autoethnography, Lori E. Kniffin Ph.D., Trina L. Van Schyndel, Elizabeth G. Fornaro, Jennifer W. Purcell, Stacey Muse

Leadership Faculty Publications

This collaborative autoethnographic research study examines the motivations, experiences, and professional outcomes of seven community engagement practitioner-scholars who served in a high-level elected position in a community engagement research association and its affiliated graduate student network. The findings highlight the role of professional associations and graduate student networks in facilitating professional development for next generation community engagement practitioner-scholars, such as supporting them in creating connections, expanding networks, developing professional identities, and cultivating cultural capital.

A Few Kind, But True Words: Using The Research Consultation To Empower Marginalized Grad Students Struggling With Imposter Syndrome, V. Dozier

Copley Library: Faculty Scholarship

Dozier, V. (2021). A few kind, but true words: Using the research consultation to empower marginalized graduate researchers struggling with impostor syndrome [Conference proceedings]. LOEX 2021.

Examining The Education Dissertations At Andrews University, Bernard Helms, Cynthia Mae Helms

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Citations from the bibliographies of Andrews University education doctoral dissertations completed in 2013-2017 were analyzed to understand the needs of graduate education students for collection management purposes. The study looked at type, citation age, and availability of the sources cited. The citations from the 31 dissertations were mainly periodicals (47%) and books (37%), with smaller percentages of dissertations, Web sites, and other forms of resources. A majority of the sources had a citation age of less than 20 years. The findings showed a weakness in the book collection, as only 44.54% of book citations were held by the library. In …

Marginalia No. 45, Merrill-Cazier Library, Utah State University

Marginalia

• Dear Friends, page 2
• New Librarians, page 3
• New Library Position Bolsters First-Year Student Success, page 4
• Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion at USU Libraries, page 5
• Historical Document Transcription Project Engages Library Staff, page 6
• Supporting USU Graduate Student Scholarship, page 7
• Telling Our Story: 130 Years of Aggie Women, page 8
• Stay Safe, Stay Well, Stay Productive, page 9
• Digital Preservation at USU Libraries, page 10

Sharpgrads: Development And Assessment Of A Research Skills Workshop Program For Graduate Students At The University Of South Carolina, Stacy L. Winchester, Amie D. Freeman

Faculty and Staff Publications

INTRODUCTION Academic libraries are placing increasing emphasis on the provision of instruction for graduate students in non-traditional research skills and competencies such as scholarly communication concepts, data management and visualization, and text mining. Since proficiency in these concepts is often expected of graduate students but training may not be offered in the classroom, the library is a natural home for such instruction. DESCRIPTION OF PROGRAM Librarians at the University of South Carolina created a two-day workshop series for graduate students called SHARPGrads. This paper describes the planning process, survey method used to develop and assess the program, and findings obtained …

Academic Libraries As Enablers To Prepare Graduate Students For Open Scholarship, Adrian K. Ho

Library Presentations

A plethora of digital tools have become available in the past decade to facilitate different tasks in the scholarly communication process. Meanwhile, research funders have established policies that require grant recipients to practice open scholarship by sharing their research deliverables online. Graduate students as junior scholars may feel overwhelmed due to their unfamiliarity with some digital tools and how to be in compliance with research funders’ requirements. To prepare them for academic success and open scholarship, academic libraries have partnered with graduate schools to educate students about scholarly communication issues.

With the focus on a public university in the U.S., …

Librarians In Dissertation Deposit: Infusing An Institutional Ritual With Scholarly Communication Instruction, Roxanne Shirazi, Jill Cirasella

Publications and Research

Most doctoral students are required to produce a dissertation that makes an original contribution to their field of study in order to fulfill their degree requirements. The scholarly nature of this requirement informs how students and faculty approach doctoral research, but universities often treat the dissertations themselves merely as student records, not scholarly contributions. Librarians, however, are uniquely situated to work with graduate students as emerging participants in the scholarly communication ecosystem and help them prepare their dissertations for an outside audience. Librarians have the expertise to advise students with questions regarding copyright, licensing, fair use, and authors’ rights, as …

Beyond The Food Pantry: Supporting #Realcollege Students During Covid-19, Sara Goldrick-Rab

Rebuilding the Launchpad: Serving Students During Covid Resource Library

Colleges and universities across the United States and around the world are scrambling to keep their students, faculty, and staff healthy, safe, and educated during the COVID-19 pandemic. As experts on the daily crises that derail #RealCollege students and prevent them from completing their degrees our team at the Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice offers the following considerations and resources to support your work.

Where They Lead, I Will Follow: Serving Remote Graduate Student Populations, Penny Scott

Gleeson Library Faculty and Staff Research and Scholarship

In 2012, the University of San Francisco's School of Management underwent a monumental change in both location and student access to academic services. In that year, all classes and most staff and student services for the MBA and other business graduate programs were relocated to a new site near the Financial District, which is across the city from the main campus. Suddenly, a major group of my service population was no longer on campus near me or near the library! In this poster, I will describe the process I undertook to remain visible and accessible to this important group of …

A Different Set Of Rules? Nlrb Proposed Rule Making And Student Worker Unionization Rights, William A. Herbert, Joseph Van Der Naald

Publications and Research

This article presents data, precedent, and empirical evidence relevant to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) proposal to issue a new rule to exclude graduate assistants and other student employees from coverage under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). The analysis in three parts. First, the authors show through an analysis of information from other federal agencies that the adoption of the proposed NLRB rule would exclude over 81,000 graduate assistants on private campuses from the right to unionize and engage in collective bargaining. Second, the article presents a legal history from the past half-century about unionization of student employees …

#Realcollege During The Pandemic: New Evidence On Basic Needs Insecurity And Student Well-Being, Sara Goldrick-Rab, Vanessa Coca, Gregory Kienzl, Carrie R. Welton, Sonja Dahl, Sarah Magnelia, Sarah Magnelia

Rebuilding the Launchpad: Serving Students During Covid Resource Library

In March 2020, the coronavirus pandemic struck American higher education. Colleges closed campuses, students lost jobs, and emergency resources failed to meet the demands caused by the crisis. This report examines the pandemic’s impact on students, from their basic needs security to their well-being, as indicated by employment status, academic engagement, and mental health.

Education Needs In Research Data Management For Science-Based Disciplines: Self-Assessment Surveys Of Graduate And Faculty At Two Public Universities, Judith E. Pasek, Jennifer Mayer

University Libraries Faculty Publications

Research data management is a prominent and evolving consideration for the academic community, especially in scientific disciplines. This research study surveyed 131 graduate students and 79 faculty members in the sciences at two public doctoral universities to determine the importance, knowledge, and interest levels around research data management training and education. The authors adapted 12 competencies for measurement in the study. Graduate students and faculty ranked the following areas most important among the 12 competencies: ethics and attribution, data visualization, and quality assurance. Graduate students indicated they were least knowledgeable and skilled in data curation and re-use, metadata and data …

Natural Selection And The Workshop, Siobhan K. Mccarthy

Sprague Library Scholarship and Creative Works

In Fall of 2017, the Sprague Library began offering workshops for citation management software in response to the increasing number of 1-on-1 appointment requests. While workshops covering various topics had been offered in the past, attendance had been low. Casting this precedent into the wind, we offered additional workshops (using anecdotal evidence from library instruction classes, research appointments, and conversations with faculty to guide the topics), and targeted graduate students and faculty as our audience. Instead of using attendance as a way to measure success, we focus on participant feedback, follow up appointments, and word-of-mouth to advertise the guide topics …

Teaching Motivation That Works: Structuring Graduate-Level Research Support Workshops To Foster Centered, Focused Self-Sufficient Learners, Wendy C. Doucette

ETSU Faculty Works

All too frequently, instruction librarians’ only opportunity to teach students distills down to the fifty-minute, one-shot, make-or-break experience. We disseminate the essential information as requested—how to use the library, how to search the databases, and so on—with little time to explain why all the pieces fit together and why they are important. Worse, well-intentioned librarians often strive to cover as much as possible in these sessions, oversaturating and frustrating their student audience.

Even in settings of brief duration with no follow-up, another approach is possible. Rather than attempting to demonstrate everything at once, we can interject effective, real-life motivational tactics …

Health Information Behaviour Of Graduate Students On The Internet: Sources, Trust And Reliability Of Information, Setsoafia A. Y. Humphrey-Ackumey, Musah Adams, Michael Ahenkorah-Marfo

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The study sought to investigate the health information behaviour of graduate students on the internet. A quantitative method using a cross-sectional survey was used to solicit information from 256 graduate students studying courses related to health in the Arts, Social, and applied Sciences. The results showed that most of the respondents preferred the Internet because it is timely, fast and provides information from different sources simultaneously. The type(s) of health information mostly sought for were general information on healthy lifestyle, specific disease or treatment, side effects of medications, new development in the medical field among others. Majority (90.9 %) of …

Minding The Gap: Grassroots Efforts To Enhance The Graduate Student Research Experience, Susan Franzen, Sarah Dick, Jennifer Sharkey

Faculty and Staff Publications – Milner Library

As scholars in training and future faculty, graduate students are a vital community within any higher education institution and a population that should be embraced by academic libraries. While some libraries have highly structured and formalized programming, others have an ad hoc approach relying on subject librarians to address individual student questions at the point of need. This book chapter discusses the collaborative effort of three librarians at Illinois State University’s Milner Library in developing specialized workshops and a strong partnership with the Graduate School. The authors cover the evolution of the collaborations and partnerships, necessary steps needed to sustain …

Courageous Conversations: Cultural Humility - Being Comfortable With The Uncomfortable, Arleezah Marrah, Brandi Janee' Chamberlin

Faculty Publications and Presentations

This round table discussion will be a courageous conversation for counselors, counselor educators, site supervisors, and graduate students. How can we be comfortable having uncomfortable conversations? This round table will explore the topic of cultural humility in the counseling relationship.

Only Connect: Graduate Students, Mobile Devices, And Academic Workflows, Lee Ann Fullington, Frans Albarillo

Publications and Research

Students often own multiple devices, including laptops, smartphones, and tablets, and work within these personal device ecosystems for academic purposes. This qualitative study explores the research question: how are graduate students using mobile technologies in their academic practices? Rather than simply counting how many devices a student uses, we delve into how they use the devices and how their workflow for completing academic tasks emerged and is adapted throughout the course of their studies. We selected graduate students, as this group is underrepresented in the literature and their responsibilities for employment and family life are often different than those of …

Self-Care Of Women Enrolled In Doctoral Psychology Programs: A Concept Mapping Approach, Amanda L. Almond

Publications and Research

As increasing numbers of women pursue degrees in health service psychology, it is important to understand what they do to promote their wellness in light of the psychosocial stressors associated with doctoral studies. The purpose of this investigation was to identify and conceptualize a diverse range of health promotion behaviors through the application of a mixed methods concept mapping design. Twelve participants sorted qualitative responses from 390 women in health service psychology pertaining to their personal self-care behaviors, resulting in a list of 112 'moderately' to 'extremely' important self-care behaviors. Six clusters of self-care activities emerged: physical wellness, relaxation and …