I have always been interested in individuals at work and
organizational behavior. Through my major in Psychology (with a concentration
in Work and Organizational Psychology) and minor in Business, I have been able
to learn about different challenges faced by organizations. One topic that
attracted my attention was employee turnover and I wondered if cultural
heritage would have any influence on an employee’s decision to stay in or leave
an organization. As I read what the management and organizational psychology
literature had to say about the topic, I decided I wanted to pursue my own
research project. My research consists of investigating diversity-related
differences in employee turnover in the United States. By having the support of
the Psychology Honors Program and my mentor, I applied and received URSP
funding for my research project.
Having the
opportunity to conduct my own research project at the undergraduate level has
been very rewarding. The knowledge I have obtained through working on my
research, collaborating with my mentor, and interacting with my fellow URSP
funded fellows has been very beneficial to my professional growth. This
research project directly relates to my long-term goals of pursuing graduate education
and becoming a management consultant. The analytical thinking skills I have
developed will help me in the future when examining complex organizational
issues for businesses.
On a weekly basis
I try to complete as many tasks as possible related to my research project. I
always break down the workload into small tasks and prioritize my time
accordingly. My time is split among reading journal articles, writing my
manuscript, overseeing the progress of data collection, and meeting with my
mentor.
One thing I
learned from conducting my research is the challenges associated with obtaining
participants. In particular I wanted to have an adult working sample and had to
contact over 20 professional associations inviting them to participate in my
research. Thankfully one of them agreed and their employee members completed my
online survey. I have some data collected and hope to analyze it by the end of
the fall 2013 semester.
