Identifying future scientists: predicting persistence into research training
Open accessAbstract
This study used semistructured interviews and grounded theory to look for characteristics among college undergraduates that predicted persistence into Ph.D. and M.D./Ph.D. training. Participants in the summer undergraduate and postbaccalaureate research programs at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine were interviewed at the start, near the end, and 8–12 months after their research experience. Of more than 200 themes considered, five characteristics predicted those students who went on to Ph.D. and M.D./Ph.D. training or to M.D. training intending to do research: 1) Curiosity to discover the unknown, 2) Enjoyment of problem solving, 3) A high level of independence, 4) The desire to help others indirectly through research, and 5) A flexible, minimally structured approach to the future. Web-based surveys with different students confirmed the high frequency of curiosity and/or problem solving as the primary reason students planned research careers. No evidence was found for differences among men, women, and minority and nonminority students. Although these results seem logical compared with successful scientists, their constancy, predictive capabilities, and sharp contrast to students who chose clinical medicine were striking. These results provide important insights into selection and motivation of potential biomedical scientists and the early experiences that will motivate them toward research careers.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Other factors besides intent may play a more prominent role in terminal degree pursuit and may result in a lower proportion of students actually completing an MD/PhD.
“While this change in intent is dramatic, other factors besides intent may play a more prominent role in terminal degree pursuit and may result in a lower proportion of students actually completing an MD/PhD [23]; this is also apparent in the Table 6 enrollment data.”
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
No references could be resolved yet.
Research works printed but not linked: 16
- Baxter Magolda M. B. Making Their Own Way: Narratives for Transforming Higher Education to Promote Self-Development. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing; 2001. [Google Scholar]
- Carnoy M. Why aren't more African Americans going to college? J. Blacks Higher Educ. 1994;6:66–69. [Google Scholar]
- Carter C. S., Brickhouse N. W. What makes chemistry difficult? Alternative perceptions. J. Chem. Educ. 1989;66:223–225. [Google Scholar]
- College Entrance Examination Board. [accessed April 2007];College-Bound Seniors. 2006 http://www.collegeboard.com/press/releases/150054.html.
- Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy, Committee on Maximizing the Potential of Women in Academic Science and Engineering (COSEPUP) Beyond Bias and Barriers: Fulfilling the Potential of Women in Academic Science and Engineering. Washington, DC: National Academies Press; 2006. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Glaser B. G. Basics of Grounded Theory Analysis: Emergence vs. Forcing. Mill Valley, CA: Sociology Press; 1992. [Google Scholar]
- Kozol J. Savage Inequalities. New York: Crowne Publishers; 1991. [Google Scholar]
- Lee J. Racial and ethnic achievement gap trends: reversing the progress toward equity? Educ. Res. 2002;31(1):3–12. [Google Scholar]
- Levin J. A., Wyckoff J. Effective advising: identifying students most likely to persist and succeed in engineering. Eng. Educ. 1988;78:178–182. [Google Scholar]
- Maton K. I., Hrabowski F. A., Schmitt C. L. African American college students excelling in the sciences: college and postcollege outcomes of the Meyerhoff Scholars Program. J. Res. Sci. Teach. 2000;37(7):629–654. [Google Scholar]
- McGee R., DeLong M. J. Collaborative co-mentored dissertations spanning institutions: influence on student development. CBE Life Sci. Educ. 2007;6(2):119–131. doi: 10.1187/cbe.06-06-0169. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI
- Russell S. H., Hancock M. P., McCullough J. Benefits of undergraduate research experiences. Science. 2007;316:548–549. doi: 10.1126/science.1140384. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar] · DOI · Paper page
- Seidman I. Interviewing as Qualitative Research: A Guide for Researchers in Education and Social Sciences. New York: Teachers College Press; 1998. [Google Scholar]
- Seymour E., Hewitt N. M. Talking about Leaving: Why Undergraduates Leave the Sciences. Boulder, CO: Westview Press; 1997. [Google Scholar]
- Strauss A. L., Corbin J. Basics of Qualitative Research: Grounded Theory Procedures and Techniques. Newbury Park, CA: Sage; 1990. [Google Scholar]
- Treisman U. Studying students studying calculus: a look at the lives of minority mathematics students in college. College Math. J. 1992;23(5):362–372. [Google Scholar]
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Gibbs, K. D., & Griffin, K. A. (2013) · CBE—Life Sciences Education · doi:10.1187/cbe.13-02-0021 · Cited by 261 · see citing works
Salto, L. M., Riggs, M. L., Delgado De Leon, D., Casiano, C. A., & De Leon, M. (2014) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0108497 · Cited by 129 · see citing works
Junge, B., Quiñones, C., Kakietek, J., Teodorescu, D., & Marsteller, P. (2010) · CBE—Life Sciences Education · doi:10.1187/cbe.09-08-0057 · Cited by 116 · see citing works
Introductory Biology Textbooks Under-Represent Scientific Process
Duncan, D. B., Lubman, A., & Hoskins, S. G. (2011) · Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education · doi:10.1128/jmbe.v12i2.307 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
- Authors
- McGee, R., & Keller, J. L.
- Affiliations
- Mayo Clinic (US)
- University of Arizona (US)
- ORCID
- McGee, Richard
- Venue
- CBE—Life Sciences Education
- Published
- 2007-12
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 316-331
- ISSN
- 1931-7913 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC2104502
- OpenAlex
- W2128223040
- Cited by
- 129
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 25 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 4
- FWCI
- 1.61
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- CBE—Life Sciences Education (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Mayo Clinic
- National Institutes of Health
- National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R25GM055252)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Health and Medical Research Impacts
- Social Sciences › Gender Studies › Diversity and Career in Medicine
- Social Sciences › Safety Research › Career Development and Diversity
- Keywords
- Ph.D. training, undergraduate research experience, student motivation, curiosity, problem solving, independence, career choice, gender differences, minority students
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Biology, Career Choice, Curriculum, Education, Medical, Undergraduate, Female, Humans, Interviews as Topic, Male, Problem Solving, Research, Students, Training Support, Universities
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
