2012 年 36 巻 1 号 p. 14-26
The purpose of this study is to investigate research activities conducted in groups in engineering laboratories and their correlation to the outcomes of these laboratories. In this study, we conducted a random sampling survey of engineering laboratories in universities and collected data from 73 of them. We generated group-level (or laboratory-level) data from individual data of master's degree students and performed multiple regression analysis with the dependent variables of degree of satisfaction, personal progress assessments, and research achievements. The results of the analysis indicate the following: (1) Establishment of individual relationships that help students grasp the significance of their research would lead to students deriving greater satisfaction from their research and improvement of academic communication skills. (2) Formation of subgroups in a laboratory would improve students' knowledge and their academic performance. (3) Sharing the outcome of research activities among laboratory members would lead to increased satisfaction in lab work.