UROP Project

First Generation in College Students (FGCSs); study abroad; transformative learning theory

Research Mentor: None needed (just my first name fine) Latika Young, She/hers
Department, College, Affiliation: Center for Undergraduate Research and Academic Engagement, Undergraduate Studies
Contact Email: latika.young@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor):
Research Assistant Supervisor Email:
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:

Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 2
Relevant Majors: Open to all majors
Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
Research Assistant Transportation Required:
Remote or In-person: Partially Remote
Approximate Weekly Hours: 5-7,
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link: Friday, Sept. 6 from 10 to 10:30 a.m. Please try to come right at the beginning and have your camera on. I look forward to speaking with you more soon!
Zoom link: https://fsu.zoom.us/j/98872957300

Project Description

The purpose of this qualitative narrative inquiry is to better understand the experiences of first generation in college students (FGCSs) who have received the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship. This study will help explain how the FGCS participants themselves understand their experiences with the Gilman Scholarship and the role they feel the program played in their post-graduation lives. Underrepresentation within education abroad for FCGSs remains a federal and higher education institutional concern, especially since the literature suggests these students experience amplified benefit from engaging internationally. The Gilman Scholarship, then, provides a crucial tool for addressing this underrepresentation, since 50% of the Gilman Scholarship awardees identify as first generation in college students (Gilman Scholarship, n.d.). Currently, there is limited investigation of the outcomes of the Gilman Scholarship program (Stedman, 2017; Valuy & Shao, 2021) and minimal scholarship that explores the specific experiences of FGCSs within the Gilman Scholarship program as disaggregated from other underrepresented students (Garner, 2018; Thompson-Jones, 2012). It is not known how FGCSs understand their experiences with the Gilman Scholarship, particularly in terms of how they perceive the impacts of their participation in the program on their longer-term personal, social, academic, and professional trajectories. As a narrative inquiry, this project will utilize focus group, creative reflection/data elicitation (i.e. "Cabinet of Curiosities" and narrative timeline), and individual interviews for data collection.

Research Tasks: Literature review for first part; learning how to use Zotero citation management; IRB approval process; help with conducting and transcribing focus group(s), creative reflection elicitation, and individual interviews; data analysis and coding as time allows.

Skills that research assistant(s) may need: No specific skills are required! An interest in qualitative research/narrative inquiry would be valuable as well as an interest in study abroad, high impact practices/transformative learning, and/or the experiences of first generation in college students.