My research grant, part 4: survey results

The results of the interviews exceeded expectations and brought a few surprises.  Briefly,

·         faculty see the benefit of engaging students in primary and critical research;

·         faculty appreciate their students’ use the archives as part of their assignment;

·         faculty do not begrudge sessions in the archives and do not feel it a waste of their class time as it enriched the classroom experience instead of competing with it;

·         faculty were concerned that primary sourced assignments might overwhelm the archives’ staff;

·         faculty thought they knew what was in the archives and were surprised to find that we have even more relevant material than previously known;

·         students enjoy working with primary documents in a safe, hands-on environment;

·         students in higher-level courses find more relevance especially for the research methods aspect;

·         students in lower-level courses find more diverse topics and materials to enrich their general assignments;

·         physical material triumphed over the digital, although digital material was more accessible; and,

·         no teaching style changes were requested.  The only request on this point was from students and faculty alike – incorporate even more hands-on materials.

Spin-off results and comments from the interviews that were complete surprises included:

·         interviews raised awareness of the archives with faculty and students alike;

·         increased traffic in the archives’ reading room;

·         additional, ‘non-traditional’ faculty signed up their class for a session without invitation;

·         at least two new-to-archives classes next year will incorporate primary sources; and,

·         knowledge of primary sources and research is beneficial to students applying to graduate school – better research methods=stronger thesis=stronger application for school.