Understanding Interventions that Encourage Minorities to Pursue Research Careers: Major Questions and Appropriate Methods

Abstract

There is a long history of intervention programs to increase the numbers and enhance the participation of students in scientific research and the pursuit of scientific careers. Many federal agencies have supported these kinds of programs with a goal of enhancing the diversity of the scientific workforce. Most of these programs operate under the assumption that actively engaging students in research and related professional activities will stimulate their interest in and understanding of science and encourage them to pursue research careers. However, there has been little formal investigation of the shortand long-term effects of such programs and the efficacy of the various program elements. Even though there have been several evaluations of both the federal programs themselves (e.g., National Research Council, 2005) and of individual institutional programs subject to evaluation (e.g., Building Engineering & Science Talent, 2004), there has been little primary research focused on the variables that make particular interventions work for minority students—and why other programs are not successful. Since 2005, the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) and its Division of Minority Opportunities in Research (MORE) have made two sets of grant awards in response to the NIH’s Request for Applications (RFA) under the Efficacy of Interventions to Promote Research Careers program (RFA-GM05-009) and have recently received applications for a fourth round of awards (RFA-GM-08-005). These RFAs were established specifically to “support research that will test assumptions regarding existing or potential interventions that are intended to increase the preparedness for careers in biomedical research, with a particular interest in those interventions specifically designed to increase the number of underrepresented minority students entering careers in biomedical and behavioral research” (page 1). Undertaking research to study the efficacy of specific interventions in any human population is fraught with many challenges. With increasing expectations for accountability, people who may not have conducted this kind of research previously now must become familiar with new protocols (e.g., statistical), new research regulations (e.g., seeking authorization from Institutional Review Boards to work with human subjects), a different research literature, and new venues for communicating their findings. Many scientists may not have had to confront such a large number of variables, many of which cannot be actively controlled, before engaging in this kind of research. As a result, many scientific researchers are not fully prepared to do the kind of research that has been called for by the NIH RFAs. In an effort to promote the submission of high-quality grant proposals—and to encourage expanded and imaginative research in this area—the MORE Division asked the National Academies to organize a workshop that would examine the current state of research about interventions that could significantly influence the participation of underrepresented minorities in pursuing research careers in the biomedical and behavioral sciences and other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. The ultimate goals of this workshop were to help researchers develop appropriate kinds of research questions that measure the contributions of various factors to the success of DOI: 10.1187/cbe.07–06–0034 Address correspondence to: Jay B. Labov (jlabov@nas.edu).