Research On The Motivational Factors Influencing Teachers To Guide Undergraduate Research Projects

Innovation Literacy and Scientific Research Capability are not only the key to develop all-round capabilities for students,but also the essence and core task of higher education.There is no doubt that undergraduates are the largest group in universities and the foundation of higher education.It could trace back to the “Research Experiences for Undergraduates”(REU),which aiming to encourage undergraduates to participate in scientific research with offering funding,released by the United States Science Foundation(USSF)in 1961.At that time,scholars began to focus on undergraduate research capacity.In China,only after the expansion of the scale of higher education,started in 1999,did universities realize the importance of involving undergraduates in researches for higher education quality.After investigating for nearly two decades,the researchers have basically proved that undergraduate research has a pivotal position in Chinese society;Scholars fundamentally explored the mechanism of undergraduate scientific research education and project management,and presented the current situation of undergraduate scientific research activities.However,there are still some questions to be solved about mentors in research projects.Firstly,whether there are appropriate management systems and reward policies for the mentoring behavior for faculty,and what extent is the support? Secondly,what are the positive and negative factors that influence faculty? Thirdly,on the basis of mentoring experiences,which factors will influence teachers' mentoring orientation in the future,and to what extent? Fourthly,what are appropriate ways to make it possible and efficient for faculty to mentor undergraduates based on the discussion of multi-dimensional factors?This study takes the Undergraduates' Innovation Training Program(UITP)as an example,based on factors influencing faculty's mentoring motivation.This paper will illustrate factors separated into inner and outer ones.The internal influencing factors in the research framework take root in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs,and combine the characteristics of this study.The external ones are based on existed researches,taking Rule and Policy,Students' Performance as the first-level dimension.In addition,there are nine second-level dimensions belonging to the three first-level,such as Support & Incentive,Job Assessment,Honor & Award,Economic Rewards,Work Load,Research Motivation,Research Quality,Research Capability and Research Completion.Besides,the forth first-level dimension "Type of Participation" combined by inner and outer factors is directly related to faculty's willingness to mentor.In this study,a hybrid study methodology combined with qualitative and quantitative methods,logical inference and evidence-based research is utilized.SPSS,STATA and Structural Equation Modeling are used as the main analytical tools.Teachers in F University are selected as samples to explore in three aspects:Firstly,this research is mainly based on the relevant research questionnaire used by professor Morales from the University of Texas at el.paso.After communication and authorization,the original questionnaire is revised by Delphi method to form the questionnaire suitable for Chinese HE in this study's research framework.The formal questionnaire consists of sociological demographic factors and 4 first-level dimensions,totally 62 items,and applies to the sample of faculty who was mentor or is mentor in F University.Secondly,this study finds that all dimensions of factors of faculty motivation to be a mentor don't efficiently promote mentoring motivation according to the sampling survey,and the mentoring behavior faces the lack of motivation.Look at the perspective of dimensions,the power of "teacher needs" is the strongest and at a reasonable level."Rules and regulations" and "student performance" are both slightly higher than the general level;"Type of participation" get the lowest impact.In general,the power of the four dimensions is insufficient,which deserves attention from all sides.Thirdly,this study adopts a mixed approach and finds that faculty mentoring motivation is influenced by multiple factors,including external factors(Support Incentives,Job Evaluation,Honorable Awards,Economic Incentives;Students' Research Motivations,Research Quality,Research Preparation,Research Completion,Control Participation)and internal factors(Safety,Social,Esteem,Self-actualization,Identity Participation,Integrative Participation).This study holds that the incentive measures of schools need to be clarified,the work assessment neglects the mentoring,the support system and activities need to be unified and enhanced;The quality of students' scientific research is acceptable,but the research ability needs to be improved;The benefits of mentoring are different for people;The voluntariness of mentoring leads to the lack of motivation,but the emotional factors of teachers and students become the main source of facult motivation to be a mentor.Fourthly,this study holds that the promotion of faculty motivation to mentor undergraduates in the future should be considered systematically.Top-level design can directly control the development of the university,which could conducted by strengthening organizational construction and system,paying close attention to talented persons,funding arrangements,sharing resource to provide study approach.In the aspect of cultivating students' research ability,it is necessary to change the way of cultivating students,emphasize flexibility,integrate research into curriculum and emphasize student scientific research ability.