TABLE 3.

Coding categories for students’ comments related to ownership

Theme	Brief description	Example
Choice of research topic	Comment suggests student appreciated choice of research question or project area.	“I liked that I had the option to conduct research on anything that interested me.”
Design own experiments	Comment suggests student enjoyed designing his or her own experiment(s).	“I liked being able to design and carry out my own experiment.”
Responsible for own project	Comment suggests student felt a sense of responsibility for the project.	“Making our own project and doing research on our own in the lab was very cool and was a good experience.”
General independence	Comment speaks positively about independence or freedom.	“I really liked the aspect of being put in a research group where you get the freedom to do what you want but there are people around to provide guidance.”