COVID-19 RAPID: ​Multi-institutional research study of graduate student experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic

Grant:  RAPID/COVID19_GRAD​
Granting Agency: National Science Foundation

About
The COVID-RAPID is a NSF funded program which is aimed conducting non-medical, non-clinical-care research that can be used immediately to explore how to model and understand the spread of COVID-19, to inform and educate about the science of virus transmission and prevention, and to encourage the development of processes and actions to address this global challenge.

The Multi-institutional research study of graduate student experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic project is an NSF RAPID among several university researchers working together to conduct a two-phase explanatory mixed method study of graduate students’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The study will contribute to a research base for graduate school administrators and faculty about how to immediately help the broadest range of graduate students during a crisis, as well as what strategies might be most effective for supporting graduate students as they make degree and career-related decisions as society emerges from the crisis.
  • The study will contribute to a research base for graduate school administrators and faculty about how to immediately help the broadest range of graduate students during a crisis, as well as what strategies might be most effective for supporting graduate students as they make degree and career-related decisions as society emerges from the crisis.
  • The project is a multi-institution, two-phase explanatory mixed method study of graduate students’ experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic, their perceptions of institutional support, and related educational and career decision-making.  The research team will solicit institutional participation and disseminate questionnaires to graduate student populations. Team members will then conduct virtual focus groups to explore in-depth students’ experiences and reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic, and how these experiences relate to their identities, persistence, and career aspirations. The researchers will then integrate both quantitative and qualitative data to further interpret, explain, and provide new insights to understanding graduate student experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Analyses will pay particular attention to student experiences related to race, class, gender, and other socio-demographic factors.
  • Results of the research will be disseminated through peer reviewed scholarship, a white paper, and workshops providing graduate college leadership with research-based guidelines on how to support the broadest range of their graduate students during a time of crisis. 

At Texas A&M University Commerce
Multiple research teams, both quantitative and qualitative, the project. The RRG leads a qualitative research team to investigate how graduate students, particularly those who are from historically marginalized backgrounds, have experienced the pandemic.

Partners

Partner Institutions:
Montana State | Iowa State| Michigan

​Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.