Table 4.
Individual item means and SDs for URSSA Thinking and Working Like a Scientist scalea
| Novice students | Experienced students | All students | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Item. How much did you gain in the following areas as a result of your most recent research experience?b | Mean | SD | Mean | SD | Mean | SD |
| Understanding how to collect scientific data | 3.40 | 0.64 | 3.61 | 0.65 | 3.56 | 0.65 |
| Understanding how scientific research is done | 3.43 | 0.79 | 3.71 | 0.55 | 3.64 | 0.61 |
| Analyzing data for patterns | 3.10 | 0.76 | 3.35 | 0.79 | 3.30 | 0.79 |
| Interpreting results from analyzing scientific data | 3.09 | 0.86 | 3.40 | 0.74 | 3.33 | 0.77 |
| Problem solving in general | 3.15 | 0.77 | 3.44 | 0.76 | 3.37 | 0.77 |
| Formulating a research question that can be answered with data | 3.26 | 0.75 | 3.21 | 0.93 | 3.23 | 0.89 |
| Identifying limitations in research methods and designs | 3.19 | 0.72 | 3.41 | 0.74 | 3.36 | 0.72 |
| Identifying flaws in the interpretation of data | 3.09 | 0.76 | 3.35 | 0.83 | 3.31 | 0.81 |
| Figuring out the next steps in a research project | 3.17 | 0.79 | 3.24 | 0.88 | 3.22 | 0.85 |
aExperienced students: n = 44; novice students: n = 29. Overall scale mean = 3.35; overall SD = 0.65.
b1 = no gain; 2 = a little gain; 3 = good gain; 4 = great gain.