Framing the Undergraduate Research Experience: Discovery Involvement in Retailing Undergraduate Education

We provide an overview of ways to involve undergraduate business and retailing students in faculty research projects and discuss advantages of these student–faculty collaborations. We use Kolb’s experiential learning cycle to provide a framework for creating an effective and engaging undergraduate research experience and use it to classify types of projects in which our undergraduate students have participated. These types of projects include (a) theory building and testing, (b) empirical research using primary or secondary data collection, (c) practitioner-oriented projects, and (d) creative projects. We provide specific examples of each type of project and then apply Kolb’s experiential learning cycle roles to a variety of undergraduate research projects. We conclude with a discussion of the benefits of involving undergraduate students in research projects