Supervising Undergraduate
Research Projects
Julian Oldmeadow
University of York
Overview…
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What is the Undergraduate Project?
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What is the role of the supervisor?
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Supervisors’ experiences
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Students’ experiences
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Where does it go wrong?
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Discussion exercise - “Putting a framework on students’ ideas”
Themes
• Focus on autonomous student-centered learning creates a
tension between structure and direction on the one hand, and
autonomy and independence on the other.
• Key theme: balancing these needs to provide “well-supported
autonomy”
What is an UG project?
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Todd et al. (2004) identify the following characteristics:
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Typically final (3rd) year
Major piece of work
Learner determines focus and direction
Work is carried out on individual basis (but small group projects increasingly
common)
Work is supervised
Work involves stages, usually including a substantial research component
Prolonged engagement with a topic
Has both learning and assessment functions
Other functions?
What is an UG project?
• A UG project is also…
– Usually the biggest piece of work a student has tackled
– Possibly the first major piece of written work
– Almost certainly the first experience of the research process from
start to finish
– Substantial independence is expected
What is an UG project?
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Therefore, from a student’s perspective, it can be a
very daunting prospect!
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Students often feel they are ‘working in the dark’
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Silén (2003) talks about ‘chaos’ and ‘cosmos’ - a period
of intellectual confusion (chaos) that precedes a
qualitative jump in understanding (cosmos)
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Intellectual struggle can be emotionally unsettling, but
is an inherent part of the experience of autonomy
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Adequate support is therefore critical
What is an UG project?
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The UG project is also a daunting prospect for supervisors too…
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Supervision is demanding and can be stressful
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“[Supervisors] often have a large number of projects to supervise as
well as their normal teaching, administrative and research
commitments, and many may not have any supervisory experience”
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New supervisors often have concerns about their ability to supervise,
academic expertise, appropriate standards and institutional climates
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Very little training is usually provided
What are its functions?
• General aim is “to expand the student’s intellectual faculties and
capability for learning and problem solving” (Cook, 1980)
• Specific aims:
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Advance scientific and technical knowledge
Develop ability to formulate an answerable research question
Encourage engagement with literature and search tools
Develop capacity to organize and carry out research program
Develop writing and presentation skills
Develop ability to draw conclusions from information collected
• Supervisor role is oriented around these functions
What is the role of the supervisor?
• A range of descriptions/metaphors have been used…
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Subject experts
Gatekeeper of academic standards
Resource person and advisor
Dissertation ‘midwife’
Director, project manager, shaper
Scaffolder and supporter
Editor
Promoter of student self-efficacy
“Guide, philosopher, and friend”
What is the role of the supervisor?
• Two broad roles: Educational Guidance and Psychological
Momentum (Cook, 1980)
• Educational guidance:
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Decision making - topic selection, research question, methods
Planning - stages and deadlines
Scientific training - analysis and deduction
Technical training - statistical analyses, report writing
• Psychological momentum:
– Maintenance of student motivation
– Development of self confidence
What is the role of the supervisor?
• “The key issue for practice is developing a balance between
freedom and structure, enabling student autonomy while also
providing contact, support and training.” (Todd, et al., 2004).
• “…to provide sufficient support to cultivate autonomy while
recognizing that many students may not feel fully prepared for
this form of study.” (Hemmings, 2001)
Supervision Styles
Active
Indirect
Direct
Passive
Supervision Styles
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Welcome student contact
Provides advice
Ask for opinions,
explanations, justifications
Active facilitator
Active
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Initiate contact
Explicit schedules,
contracts
Tend to be directive
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Indirect
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Don’t arrange meetings
Non-directive
Wait for students to think
things through & solve
problems
Direct
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Passive
Generally disinterested
Unresponsive to student
needs
Non-directive
Key points…
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UG project has a focus on student-centered learning
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The supervisor has both educational and psychological roles
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Becomes apparent that a key challenge is providing “well-supported
autonomy” - how do we promote independence while providing
adequate support?
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“Independence does not involve a hands-off approach. The challenge
in the UG dissertation is to provide sufficient support to cultivate
autonomy while recognizing that many students may not feel fully
prepared for this form of study.” (Hemmings, 2001)
Supervisor Experiences
• What are the experiences of supervisors?
• What are the key issues in practice?
• What do experienced supervisors see as their key roles and
responsibilities?
• Not much research, but a few surveys available (e.g. Todd et al.,
2004)
Supervisor Roles
• General awareness of being a ‘facilitator’, helping students
make their plans achievable
• Awareness of balancing student autonomy with supervisor’s
direction
• This balance may involve shifts at different times…
– Level of involvement varies across the year
– Need to be forceful and prescriptive in particular situations
• Overall need to be flexible and attuned to needs of individual
student
Responsibilities
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Major task in identifying the research question, which students often
struggle to do
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Ensure project is feasible in scope and ethics
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Identified a responsibility to evaluate student’s motives and ability, and
direct them towards a fitting project
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Other responsibilities to advise on methods and assist with
practicalities, help with time management and organisation, and
provide feedback on write-up
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Note, supervisors rarely mentioned psychological roles or
responsibilities
Dissertation write-up
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Level of assistance at the write-up stage was an issue for supervisors
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Both supervisors and students agreed the write-up is the student’s
responsibility
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Supervisors agreed they should NOT be involved in writing content
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Sometimes hard to maintain such boundaries, particularly with weaker
or non-native English speaking students
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Again, theme of flexibility and a tailored approach emerged
Key points from supervisor’s perspective
• Perceived their role as ‘facilitator’ rather than ‘director’
• Identified the formulation of a research question as a major task
• Again, key issue is balancing student autonomy with direction
• Levels of autonomy and direction vary across time and across
students
• Need for a flexible approach that provides direction where
needed
Student Perceptions
• Todd, Banister & Clegg (2004) surveyed social science students
in Sheffield
• A number of themes emerged from survey and interviews
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Authenticity and personal ownership
Uncertainty and Challenge
Time
Support
Authenticity and personal ownership
• Significance of the project derived largely from the sense of
independence and self-direction
• Sense of pride and personal achievement
• Strong sense of ownership and motivation to succeed
• Sense that the project is an authentic form of assessment due to
it being personal
Uncertainty & Challenge
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A considerable challenge at many levels
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Difficulty formulating an appropriate research question
– Too broad, vague, unanswerable, descriptive, over-ambitious
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Other difficulties involved locating information and literature, recruiting
participants, and applying research methods training to their specific
project
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“the production of a specific research question…constitutes one of the
most challenging aspects of dissertation study for undergraduates”
AND FOR SUPERVISORS!
Time
• Overwhelming perception that the dissertation required more
effort than other modules of equivalent credit value
• Demands of project are detrimental to other work, that it “takes
over”
• For some the load related to technical demands (e.g. collecting
data), for others to personal enthusiasm related to autonomy
and ownership
• So, time demands are high, but so is motivation
Support
• What do students expect in terms of support?
– Guidance on management
– Motivation and encouragement
– Academic expertise, advice on relevant literature and concepts
• Key stages where support was most needed
– Defining research question and parameters/scope of project
– Choosing research method
– Constructive criticism and feedback on written work
• “I had the resources and enthusiasm but was lacking direction.
The supervisor had clarity of thinking…They took my ideas and
put a framework on it.”
Supervision Styles
• Styles varied widely from Formal (fixed timetable, written
records of meetings, formal contract) to Informal (initiate
preliminary meeting, then leave it to the student)
• Most students appreciated some formality (e.g. setting date of
next meeting, specific tasks, deadlines for milestones)
• Others appreciated ‘space’ and autonomy
• “The style of supervision I had worked for me. I had a choice in
this--my supervisor asked me at the start how I’d like to be
supervised”
Key points from students’ perceptions
• Students perceive projects as authentic and having high intrinsic
value
• Students value the autonomy and independence projects offer,
which is often highly motivating
• A big challenge is to produce a researchable question, and
students appreciate some formal structuring from supervisor putting a framework on students’ ideas
• Students also value highly the personal support aspects, some
seeing this as the most important aspect of supervision
Where does it go wrong?
• What are the common problems to look out for?
• Need to be aware of issues that arise from combining learning
and assessment in a single activity…
Where does it go wrong?
• Cook (1980) identifies a number of problem areas related to
assessment:
– Differences in attitude to supervision
– Topic difficulty
– Student dependence
– Time allocation for supervisory duties
Key themes…
• Tension between structure and direction on the one hand, and
autonomy and independence on the other.
• Balancing these needs to provide “well-supported autonomy”
• “The key issue for practice is developing a balance between
freedom and structure, enabling student autonomy while also
providing contact, support and training.” (Todd, et al., 2004).
Key themes…
• Identifying an appropriate research question was considered a
major challenge for both students and supervisors
• A key point at which the autonomy/structure conflict is played
out
• A potentially useful metaphor of “putting a framework on
students’ ideas”
Discussion
“Putting a framework on students’ ideas”
Formulating a research question…
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What are the common problems with students’ research questions?
– Want to establish clear ‘cause-effect’ relations within very complex issues “Do media representations of women encourage sexism?”
– Too broad or vague - “Are perceptions of people affected by their race?”
– Unoriginal - “Does personality have an impact on choice of vocation?”
– Descriptive - “What are the stereotypes of Hong Kong Chinese towards
Mainland Chinese?”
Initial student ideas…
• “We are looking to develop a project on social perception and
social attribution and possibly investigating its relationship with
additional concepts such as self-handicapping, depressiverealism hypothesis and the 'belief in a just world'.”
Initial student ideas…
• “I am wanting to investigate the halo effect and race, looking to
see if white males and females are thought to be more
successful, intelligent and so on than people from other ethnic
backgrounds.”
Initial student ideas…
• “I am currently in my second year and I am very interested in
body dismorphia (specifically anorexia nervosa).”
Initial student ideas…
• “The effects of education on perception of mental health issues.”
Initial student ideas…
• “I have a brief idea for a study, for which I would require
multicultural participants. They would be presented with visual
stimuli consisting of pictures of members of the opposite sex,
who you would vary widely in social status, age and race. They
would then be asked to rank them in order of preference.”
Initial student ideas…
• “I'm particularly interested in the perception of gender, and what
factors in a face cause it to be categorised as male or female.
I'm aware of a great deal of research into this already, but am
keen on extending it by considering what cues are dominant in
the case of ambiguous faces, and more specifically to what
extent context and expectation can affect categorisation. I've
also wondered about how this would apply in the case of
transgender people; whether their faces would be categorised
on the physical structure (reflecting biological sex) or stylistic
choices in appearance (reflecting gender).”
Exercise…
• In small groups, choose one of these student research ideas
and discuss how you would advise the student
– What are the problems with the question?
– How would it need to change to develop into a researchable
question?
– What sort of ‘framework’ could you put on it to help move the
student forward?
Sources of Support…
• Departmental guidelines on supervision and UG projects
• Mentor
• Literature
• Checklists…
Example Checklist
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Determine objectives for the dissertation
Ascertain the proportion of total marks allocated for dissertation
Identify key factors on which the dissertation is to be assessed
Advise students as to the main objectives and requirements
Guide student in the selection of topic
Outline advantages of a systematic approach to planning and
organisation
Advise student on areas of special difficulty, e.g. data collection
Proof-read draft and suggest textural and presentational amendments
Remind student of deadlines
Revise supervisory approach for the next year in light of experience
Further Reading
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Armstrong, M. & Shanaker, V. (1983). The supervision of undergraduate research: student
perceptions of the supervisor role. Studies in Higher Education, 8, 177-183.
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Beer, R. H. (1995). Guidelines for the supervision of undergraduate research. Journal of
Chemical Engineering, 72, 721-722.
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Cook, M. (1980). The role of the academic supervisor for undergraduate dissertations in
science and science-related subjects. Studies in Higher Education, 5, 173-185.
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Keogh, M. (2006). Supervising undergraduate research using online and peer supervision.
In M. Huba (Ed), International Virtual University Conference, Bratislava 14-15 December
2006, pp. 19-24. Technical University Bratislava: Bratislava.
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Todd, M., Bannister, P. & Clegg, S. (2004). Independent inquiry and the undergraduate
dissertation: perceptions and experiences of final year social science students. Assessment
& Evaluation in Higher Education, 29, 335-355.
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Todd, M., Smith, K. & Bannister, P. (unpublished manuscript). Supervising a social science
undergraduate dissertation: Staff experiences and perceptions.