Toward a Longitudinal Multifaceted View of Remote Undergraduate Research Experiences During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The perspectives of doing research online

TL;DR

This study explores the tools, challenges, and outcomes of remote undergraduate research experiences during COVID-19, finding that remote REUs can be as beneficial as in-person ones and may expand access to research opportunities.

Contribution

It provides a longitudinal, qualitative analysis of remote undergraduate research experiences, comparing them to traditional in-person programs using Cultural-Historical Activity Theory.

Findings

Remote REUs did not create a gap in research and academic objectives.

Participants reported high benefits from remote research experiences.

Remote programs can potentially expand access to undergraduate research.

Abstract

In the Summer of 2020, as COVID-19 limited in-person research opportunities and created additional barriers for many students, institutions either canceled or remotely hosted their Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) programs. The present longitudinal qualitative phenomenographic study was designed to explore some of the tools, communities, norms, and division of labor that make up the remote research program and some of the possible limitations, challenges, and outcomes of this remote experience. Within the context of the undergraduate research program, the paper makes a comparison between outcomes of the remote and in-person research experience. Overall, 94 interviews were conducted with paired participants; mentees (N=10) and mentors (N=8) from six different REU programs. By drawing on Cultural-Historical Activity Theory as a framework, our study has explained the remote format has not opened a gap between mentees' research and academic objectives from the REU program and what they got at the end. All mentees reported that this experience was highly beneficial. Comparisons between the outcomes of the remote REU and the published outcomes of in-person UREs revealed many similar benefits of undergraduate research. Our study suggests that remote research programs could be considered as a means to expand access to research experiences for some students even after COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.