Student Researchers’ Journey: Process, Challenges, and Learning Outcomes Emerged from Interviews of New Research Teams

Written by Vivian Graft

Edited by Emily Harrison & Britney Ly

April 30, 2022 

Overview

       During the Spring, Summer, and Fall semesters of 2021, the Center for Customer Insights and Digital Marketing (CCIDM) welcomed over a dozen new student research assistants (RA). We would like to invite you to join us in recognizing the progress our new student members have made in their research over these last few months. 

       Research is the most prominent activity that center interns are engaged in during their internship period. “The goal of the group research is multi-faceted,” explains Dr. Jae Jung, the director of the center. “Group research experience at the center is intended to give students unparalleled learning experience not available in a typical classroom setting.” Dr. Jung notes that research assistants are expected to master teamwork, research ability, writing skills, presentation skills, problem-solving skills, and cultural awareness throughout their research journey, which starts with research grant proposal writing and ends with a complete manuscript. This whole process typically spans over a year, complete with many challenges at each stage of progression. Student RA’s learn how to sell their research in the first few pages of their paper. They learn about how to articulate their ideas into hypotheses and how models depict visually complex interrelationships among variables. They learn not only the technical aspect of customer analytics, but also the sound scientific process and principles that allow students to critically judge the validity of data and research methods. Dr. Jung also explains how working as a group presents a unique opportunity to learn the importance of teamwork and respect for the cultural background of group members. Through the research journey, students become humbled and improve their team-building skills. The most enjoyable part of research is the many opportunities that student RA’s at the Center have to present their passion at various conferences and competitions. Students at the Center have been extremely successful, gaining recognition and awards in the past. Dr. Jung expresses that he has “no doubt that the new teams will be successful as well.”

     Center interns are given an opportunity to learn and expand their understanding of the research process. Student RA’s follow the same path that professional researchers follow when they conduct and publish research studies. To begin, students formulate a topic and focus for their study. The ideas and topics in the early stages of research are normally very broad and are meant to be narrowed as the research progresses. Students are expected to formulate an introduction to their research where they discuss their problem statement and its significance. The beginning stage of research involves an extensive period of literature review where student researchers filter through many research article databases to both learn more about their topic and narrow down the direction they want to take. It is during this stage that student researchers discover areas that have not been thoroughly studied. These types of discoveries are what help students find a direction for their research projects. During literature review, students also compose the hypotheses they wish to confirm through their research. After the literature review is completed and the hypotheses have been finalized, students then begin constructing the methodology section. In this stage, student researchers design the specific methods they will use in order to design their study, collect their data, and analyze their results. If secondary data is available, the scope of data could also determine feasibility of the research and inform the research objectives. Research methods can be quantitative, qualitative, or a mixture of both. Once the data has been collected and analyzed, student researchers then discuss their findings. During the findings stage, student researchers explain how the measurements of their data support their hypotheses or not. The conclusion stage is where student researchers discuss the implications for their study’s findings in light of the existing body of knowledge in the literature and also how their research should be applied to businesses and the industry. Student researchers end by discussing the limitations they faced and how future studies can expand upon and improve on their research.

       Student research assistants have begun working on diverse consumer behavior research topics that have implications on various industries and contribute to the expansive area of behavioral research. The center has welcomed two new research teams which include the COVID-19 Hospitality team and the Femvertising 101 team. The center has also seen two new student research assistants join the ongoing research of the Collective Individuals team. 

Team COVID19-Hospitality

       During the Spring 2021 semester, the COVID-19 Hospitality research team was created and saw the addition of two members who joined the Center over the Summer. The team, comprised of Hallie Huang (Computer Information Systems major), Emily Harrison (Marketing Management major), and Jeffrey Hsu (Marketing Management major), started this research project with the intention of highlighting the underlying characteristics of individuals who are faced with the regulation to wear a mask from experiencing the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the hospitality industry has adjusted to the country’s reopening during the pandemic, many new hygiene protocols (handwashing, mask-wearing, social distancing, etc.) that were implemented may cause consumers to have mixed opinions on the new regulations. This project investigates the factors (e.g., individuals espoused cultural values) that shape their intention to wear a mask while not actively eating or drinking when staying in a coffee shop. Hallie, Jeffrey, and Emily have all had a pleasurable experience working alongside each other and have learned a lot of valuable skills while working in a team. Jeffrey notes that a major challenge when conducting research is that many aspects of the project will have to be adjusted from time to time, especially since their project involves a current topic that is constantly evolving. The COVID-19 Hospitality team has completed their literature review, formulation of their hypotheses, survey construction, and will now begin data collection.

Team Femvertising 101

       The welcoming of three new research assistants during Summer 2021 paved the way for the creation of the Femvertising 101 team. Vivian Graft (International Business major), Britney Ly (Technology and Operations Management major), and Krystal Serrano (International Business major) started this project with the intention of investigating the factors that influence women consumers’ intention to buy from brands that use realistic advertisements of women by drawing on the Theory of Planned Behavior. These factors include women’s demographics, psychographics, and social influences. Furthermore, this research investigates the role that women’s age and civic consciousness play in shaping the strengths of the relationships among the determinants of behavioral intention (attitudes towards behavior, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control) and behavioral intention. The team has greatly enjoyed working with one another on a topic and project that they are all very passionate about. Krystal admits that while the research process is extensive and requires a high level of commitment, she has thoroughly enjoyed her experience at the Center and has been able to work alongside remarkable students that offer one another support and encouragement throughout the research process. Krystal transferred to Cal Poly Pomona during the pandemic and recognized that developing meaningful relationships with other students has been hard, but joining the Center has granted her the opportunity to meet other hardworking, like-minded students. Britney acknowledges that the research internship can be very time consuming due to the required amount of work needed to create a successful and contributory research study. Through these challenges, she has learned important soft skills such as organization, time management, and collaboration. Overall, Britney has enjoyed her time at the Center because she has been able to meet other “friendly, intelligent, and driven students.” Currently, the Femvertising 101 team has completed their literature review stage and have formulated their hypotheses. In the coming weeks, the team will construct their methods of measurement and administer the surveys that will help them either prove or disprove the predictions made in their hypotheses.

Team Collective Individuals

       The Collective Individuals team, which was first introduced in the Fall of 2020, has now welcomed Mitchell Robertson (Technology and Operations Management major), Matheus Cordeiro (Chemical Engineering graduate major), and Luis Gaytan (Spanish major) to serve as student research assistants. They will join Grant Chic (Marketing major) and Joseph Lee (Computer Information Systems major) on their current research. This project investigates how Hofstede’s six cultural dimensions influence consumers' usage of the seven functions of social media platforms (identity, conversation, sharing, presence, reputation, conversations, group). It will seek to identify how individual consumers’ cultural values influence consumers’ social media behaviors, and will test this through a questionnaire design that will investigate certain cultural dimensions’ effects on a social media function. The team hopes to contribute to the literature and provide insight on how to strategically market on social media based on various cultural dimensions. 

       Overall, the team is learning a lot about what goes into a research study. The team has become very familiar with how much time is spent learning about research topics and actively conducting the methodology stage which helps them discover new aspects of their area of research. According to Joseph, one thing that surprised him was the constant communication between team members that is needed since everyone needs to be on the same page. An important thing to note about team research projects is that everyone is responsible for managing their tasks and keeping everyone up to date so that the study progresses more efficiently. However, there will always be hitches in the research process. As Joseph notes, “there is always room for improvement.” It is expected that the direction of the research will change several times as new discoveries are constantly being made in all areas of research. As a result, teams need to adapt so that their research contribution will be additive and significant. Mitchell says that he was “surprised at how large research projects are,” and that “the challenges come from understanding and staying organized with the material.” Matheus recently became a graduate student at Cal Poly Pomona and has conducted research studies in the past during his undergraduate degree and as a part of his final thesis. He plans to continue his education through a PhD program and knows that his experience at the center will help him a lot in pursuing his future path. Matheus strongly encourages other students to apply for the internship at the Center because of the ways that students can develop themselves in several areas, including analytical and soft skills, which will help students succeed in their chosen career path. The Collective Individuals team has made significant progress on their project. Once they redirect the focus of their research, they will then begin their methodology stage of the research process.

Team Regulatory Foci

       The Regulatory Foci team was initially formed during the Spring 2020 semester and was accepted into The Hatchery’s Learn Through Discovery program in June 2020. Currently, they are set to complete their research by the end of the Spring 2022 semester and continues to make significant headway on their research. The team includes Andrea Escobar Vara (recent Marketing graduate) and Patrick Ogaz (recent CIS major with Marketing minor graduate) initially and later welcomed Sebastian Hernandez (recent Marketing graduate) and Claire Son (Communications major) during Fall 2020. This project investigates consumers’ preferences for timing of sharing about consumer experiences such as visiting theme parks, sports events, or vacationing that might be influenced by the individualism-collectivism (INDCOL) dimension of culture and the ensuing regulatory foci — promotion orientation versus prevention orientation — that motivates individuals to behave in a certain expected way. Teamwork is a major part of a successful research process, so it is important to have good rapport with your teammates. According to Andrea Escobar, “Working with students from different backgrounds and majors is quite interesting and insightful and is something that other students don’t get to experience while in college. What I learned is that everyone has strengths and weaknesses and we need to learn how to utilize and reinforce them to be productive.” The long hours of commitment to the research process are also another factor that student researchers have to go through. According to Patrick Ogaz, “the biggest surprise has been the time commitment because I had never done any research. I had no idea the time commitment that was demanded. I also was surprised with how much reading, writing, and presenting has been in our research.” Currently, the Regulatory Foci team has progressed well during the last few months and is currently in the process of analyzing their collected data. 

Conclusion

       Students at the Center work in close-knit teams that are made up of students from different backgrounds with unique perspectives, which is one of the many benefits of the comprehensive nature of the program. The teams at the Center have exhibited amazing teamwork throughout this last year. Student members have proved to be hardworking and dedicated researchers who encourage one another and exemplify what it means to be exceptional students. The research contributions of the center’s student research assistants have not gone unnoticed. The Center is proud of the work that these teams have accomplished over the last few years. We expect successful futures for these market research insights and data analytics professionals-to-be.

       The pragmatic research learning skills that the Center offers is a rarity for undergraduate students. Getting involved in hands-on research and contributing to underexplored areas of research, with the potential of presenting at both national and global research conferences, is an excellent and even vital opportunity for undergraduate students hoping to attend graduate school; not to mention that it is an additional benefit to students interested in any career path. Make sure to take some time to explore the CCIDM’s website to learn more about how you can get involved with customer insights and data analytics research at the CCIDM and participate in future research projects to help expand your expertise.

If you are interested in conducting research, please contact Dr. Jung at jmjung@cpp.edu. Learn more about each of these and additional research projects here. To connect with any students in the cited article, visit the CCIDM Team and Alumni pages. If you are not already on our mailing list, please subscribe below to make sure you get an invitation!