Reed College
Reed College

From Evidence to Scholarship

Transforming Undergraduate Student Research in the Digital Age

Phase 1: Focus Group Questions

Faculty Focus Group Questions

  1. Let’s start with a round of introductions. We don’t need to know your name, but could you tell us your department and your areas of expertise?
  2. Thinking about some of your classes for sophomores and juniors, what sort of research projects do you assign?
  3. When mid-level students work on a research assignment, how do their strategies differ from those used by more experienced students, or even yourself?
  4. What are the hallmarks of a successful student research assignment?
  5. What kinds of instruction do you think could help sophomores and juniors learn independent research methods?
  6. What technologies and support services do you think could help them be more successful in their research assignments?
  7. Is there anything else about supporting student research that we haven’t discussed?

Student Focus Group Questions

  1. Let’s start with introductions. We don’t need to know your name but could you tell us your year in school and your major or subject you’re thinking of majoring in?
  2. Thinking about some of your recent classes, what sort of research projects were assigned?
  3. What do you think your professor was looking for in the assignment?
  4. What was your strategy and process to do the assignment?
  5. When you think about a successful research assignment, what made it great?
  6. What do you think is hard about doing research? What sorts of things were barriers or challenges for you?
  7. When you need help with a research assignment, what do you do?
  8. What do you think faculty could do to assist in your research efforts

Backup Student Questions

  1. When materials aren’t given to you for class, where do you look for texts or other digital materials to use in your assignments?
  2. Have you ever used e-Books through the Reed Library? How did that work?
  3. When you get eReserves through Moodle, how well does that work for you?
  4. Do you use a mobile device (iPad, e-Reader, smartphone, etc.) for course readings? If so, what works well and what doesn’t?
  5. When you had course assignments that involved data, what software did you use? How was that process for you?
  6. Is there any particular technology or tool you like to use for your assignments? Is technology helpful, or does it get in the way?
  7. What technology and services that you don’t currently have would help you?
  8. Is there anything else about your research assignments that we haven’t discussed?

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