Socioeconomic Disparities in Undergraduate Research Engagement over 10 Years

Participation in undergraduate research has been found to contribute to student learning, soft skills development and interest in academic careers. However, little is known about the disparities in undergraduate research engagement. The study analyzes 10-year trends in research participation at 7 large public research-intensive universities across the US and addresses two research questions:
How the level of engagement in undergraduate research changed from 2011 to 2021 (and how the COVID-19 pandemic affected student participation in research)?
How persistent are socioeconomic disparities in undergraduate research participation over a 10-year period?
The study shows significant declines in the research participation during the pandemic and reports widening disparities by students’ social class.

Presented by Igor Chirikov (CSHE, UC Berkeley), Matilda Ju (UC Berkeley), Jessamine Li (UC Berkeley), Sam Tan (UC Berkeley)