Examining Thesis Advisers’ Profile and their Undergraduate Research Mentoring Capabilities

Undergraduate research is an avenue for students to experience the rudiments of a scientific investigation with the guidance and assistance of a thesis adviser. These thesis advisers play a significant role in the conceptualization, research conduct and even in intellectual, academic, professional and career development of undergraduate research students. This paper discusses the relationship between thesis advisers’ profile and their undergraduate research mentoring capabilities. The research involved the participation of 72 thesis advisers and 622 thesis advisees. The researcher made use of adapted questionnaire with reliability index (Cronbach Alpha) of 0.842. Descriptive statistics and Pearson-r correlation was used. Results revealed thesis advisers were evaluated by their thesis advisees as skilled in terms of Intellectual Growth and Development, Research Conduct, Professional Career and Development, Academic Guidance, Skill Development and Personal Communication and highly skilled in the Research Ethics component only. Regression analysis shows that thesis advisers that are older, higher in rank, and have longer length of service have better mentoring capabilities in the seven components. Specifically, advisers’ educational attainment significantly influenced advisees’ professional career development; number of researches conducted highly influenced advisees’ intellectual growth, research conduct and ethics. Advisers with experience in research presentation highly influenced advisees’ communication skills. Finally, advisers’ publication and membership in research organizations influenced mentees’ personal communication and intellectual growth. Therefore, thesis advisers’ profile except sex and number of year as thesis adviser were good predictors of their undergraduate research mentoring capabilities. Thus, it is of utmost importance that undergraduate research students should consider these factors to get optimum guidance and mentoring from their research advisers.

Keywords: thesis advisers’ profile, research mentoring capability, undergraduate research, thesis advising, University of Southern Mindanao