533 Student Undergrad Researchers’ Race, Ethnicity, And Language in a Student-Run Free Clinic (SURREAL)

Abstract

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Our primary objective is to determine the demographic and linguistic characteristics of student research assistants (SRAs) in a large student-run free clinic associated with a mid-western university. Our secondary objective was to determine if the SRAs perceived any impact of those characteristics on their duties and ability to conduct research. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: We plan to conduct a 15-question electronic survey of Student Research Assistants at the student run free clinic. There are a variety of projects that require varying levels of commitment from researchers, which will be aggregated. This survey has been modified from a previously validated survey that focused on the demographic and linguistic characteristics of pediatric research coordinators. This survey will be emailed out to student research assistants and will be done over a period of 3 months. The study population will be predominantly undergraduate students who are all interested in a career in healthcare, ages expected to range from 18-25. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: We anticipate that the majority of student research assistants will be older students and will be students who identify as non-white/caucasian, as the majority of students volunteering at this free clinic do not identify as white. Additionally, we anticipate that students will feel that their racial/ethnic identity will positively impact their recruitment efforts. We also anticipate that the ability of a student research assistant to speak another language is expected to positively affect their perceived recruitment efforts. We also anticipate that gender will influence the student researchers’ perceptions of their recruitment efforts. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: An individual’s background can directly impact how they perceive their contributions towards research. Considering the paucity in research for underinsured and uninsured and the rise in undergraduate student research assistants, optimizing research efforts and SRA confidence is essential to increase the accuracy and efficiency of research.