An immersive field study as an undergraduate research opportunity and additive high-impact practice (HIP) experience for underrepresented students

This program included a short-term study abroad and immersive field-based undergraduate research experience for 57 undergraduate students at three institutions during 2 years. The program included the design of research proposals prior to the study abroad; an 8-day research immersion experience; followed by data analysis and preparation of research papers or posters. Over 36% of the students represented an underrepresented minority group and 84% were female. All students completed surveys prior to and after program completion, which measured impact of the experience on growth in self-efficacy, interest in research, and worldview. Comparing pre- and post-survey results indicated a non-significant increase in students’ interest in research, from 3.91 to 3.96 on a scale of 5; a significant increase in beliefs about their ability to conduct research (70.8–79.3 on a scale of 100); significant increase in general self-efficacy (4.03 pre and 4.26 post on a scale of 5); and significant shift towards environmental worldview. Exploratory regression models identified previous international travel, class, prior activities, high research interest pre-immersion, and high self-efficacy scores pre-immersion as significantly impacting the various models. These findings indicate that the experience increased their interest in and beliefs about their ability to conduct research, increased their environmental awareness, and improved self-esteem. However, the regression models did not identify any activities during the immersion or research experience that significantly explained post-immersion gains in scores. This suggests that future programs will require redesigns of surveys, possibly addressing personal background and experiences that may impact self-efficacy of underrepresented students. © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.