Bolin, Linda PSadlowski, Matthew O2025-07-032025-052025-05-01May 2025http://hdl.handle.net/10342/14199The nursing profession currently faces an ongoing workforce shortage, particularly within the nurse educator and nurse researcher roles. Many institutions have implemented Graduate Research Assistant programs with the goals of exposing students to data collection, analysis, and scholarly collaboration to better prepare students for their academic and professional careers, as well as to serve as resources of support for nursing faculty and scientists. Little research has been done to examine the perceived experiences of faculty members engaged with these programs. Without this kind of research, there is not a reliable way to know what aspects and factors of these programs were appreciated, ineffective, or denounced by faculty members. Knowing these elements can lead to efforts for program improvement that is based on empirical insights. This qualitative study, guided by the research question “What are the faculty perspectives of utilizing graduate research assistants (GRA) within a college of nursing?”, used a mini focus group of faculty nurse researchers at the East Carolina University College of Nursing to identify the participants’ perceived benefits and barriers of the utilization of GRAs through thematic analysis. The findings suggest that increasing the duration in which GRAs are assigned to work with faculty researchers and an increase in institutional support for GRAs could make GRAs more effective in their role. Further research with a larger and more diverse sample is required to validate these insights.application/pdfGraduate research assistantshipGraduate research assistant utilizationFaculty perceptionsHonors Thesis2025-06-12