The undergraduate research experience as it relates to research efficacy beliefs and the imposter phenomenon

Abstract

Studies associating gender with self-efficacy beliefs and studies on the Imposter Phenomenon (IP) are great in number. This study seeks to further investigate the relationship between gender, self-efficacy, and IP by examining the research self-efficacy beliefs and imposter feelings of students in an eleven-week undergraduate summer research program. The results are from a voluntary survey offered in the ninth week of the program offered at a large Midwestern University. The qualitative/quantitative survey was designed to determine students' research-efficacy (i.e. their confidence in their abilities to succeed in the research program), their definitions of success in the research program, and their imposter status as measured by the Clance IP scale. Quantitative questions measured how successful students felt they were in the program, their efficacy for achieving success in the program, and the intensity of their imposter feelings. Qualitative, open-ended questions called for the participants' views of what it meant to be successful in the program and factors that influenced their definition of success. The results and conclusions presented here offer insight into the research experiences of both female and male students, as voiced by the students themselves. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2006.