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Research attitudes of African-American graduate students.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

This two-stage study examined attitudes toward research of African-American graduate students. Stage 1 involved the development and score validation of the Attitudes Toward Research Design Survey (ATRDS). Stage 2 involved comparing ATRDS subscale scores between African-American students enrolled at an institution located in an urban setting and those enrolled in a rural setting. Comparisons were made with regard to research self-efficacy, perceived professional utility of research, and learning preferences. Stage 2 revealed that African-American graduate students enrolled at the urban institution reported moderately higher levels of research self-efficacy than did their rural counterparts.

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In recent years, studies conducted on graduate students enrolled in research methodology/statistics classes have been the subject of doctoral dissertations (e.g., Faghihi, 1998), journal articles, and other publication outlets (e.g., Phillips & Russell, 1994). Research in this area has found that many students are extremely frightened about taking such courses (Wilson & Onwuegbuzie, in press). These students deem research courses to be the most difficult in their programs of study, often revealing that they would not have enrolled in these classes if they had not been required to do so (Wilson & Onwuegbuzie, in press). Moreover, research indicates that many students struggle in research methodology/statistics classes, culminating in underachievement and negative attitudes toward research (Onwuegbuzie, 1997), although these attitudes can be improved by same-race and same-sex mentoring (Hargrove & Frierson, 1994). However, with a very few exceptions (e.g., Hargrove & Frierson, 1994), studies in this area primarily have involved Caucasian-American students. In particular, little is known about the experiences of African-American students, despite the fact that the latter tend to attain lower levels of achievement in research courses than do their Caucasian-American counterparts (Onwuegbuzie, 1999).

In studying African-American students enrolled in research methodology/statistics courses, variables that have a cultural context appear to offer promise. These constructs include learning preferences, research self-efficacy, and perceived utility of research methods. To date, these variables have not been considered simultaneously. Yet, studying these variables within the same framework has the potential to broaden our picture of the characteristics and experiences of African-American graduate students enrolled in research courses. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to compare African-American graduate students enrolled at an institution located in an urban setting and those enrolled in a rural setting with respect to research self-efficacy, perceived professional utility of research, and learning preferences.

Method

Participants The sample comprised 79 African-American graduate students attending either at an institution located in an urban setting (n = 45) or in a rural setting (n = 34). Participants from both settings were enrolled in a quantitative-based research methodology course. The majority of students was female (82.28%). Ages of the sample members ranged from 22 to 62...