Research Skills Self-Efficacy and Experimental Design Aptitude Among First Semester Bioscience Doctoral Students

• In Event: 35.078 - MTCC Roundtable Session 14
  In Roundtable Session: 35.078-9 - Identity and Self-Efficacy in Research Training

Abstract

Self-efficacy influences aspiration, motivation, and persistence. Since graduate students experience research challenges, self-efficacy in research skills is important in determining training outcomes. In bioscience graduate students at our institution, we observed significant increases in self-efficacy in many research skills and in experimental design aptitude over the first semester of training. However, self-efficacy in designing experiments and performance on an experimental design assessment were not correlated at the individual student level. Moreover, at the outset of graduate training, we found that females had lower experimental design self-efficacy than males, but performed better on an experimental design assessment. By the end of the semester, we saw that both females and males achieved comparable levels of self-efficacy and aptitude in experimental design.

Authors

• Katherine Lachance

• Ronald Heustis

• Joseph Loparo

• Madhvi Venkatesh, Harvard Medical School