An implementation to develop undergraduate students' social integration

The purpose of the present study was to empirically test whether social integration is malleable and reveal undergraduate students' perceptions and experiences regarding the Social Integration Development Training Intervention (SOIDET). First of all, an 8-week Social Integration Development Training Intervention (SOIDET) was designed, and the training intervention was administered to undergraduate students included in the experimental group. In addition, all the sessions were recorded via a camera. Embedded mixed methods research design which comprises quantitative and qualitative research approaches was used in the study. The sample of the research consisted of undergraduate students who are sophomore students in classroom teaching in the academic year of 2017-2018. A total of 67 undergraduate students were assigned to the experimental (N=36) and control groups (N=31). Qualitative interviews were conducted with 10 undergraduate students participating in the experimental group. In order to examine the effectiveness of the SOIDET, Social Integration Questionnaire, which was developed by Şimşek and Şimşek (2013), was used as a data collection tool. Lastly, the diary papers and the recorded videos were examined to observe participating undergraduate students' attitudes and perceptions towards the training intervention. The findings indicated that the SOIDET was effective in developing undergraduate students' perceptions of social integration. In the control group, however, no statistically significant differences were detected in terms of social integration post-test scores. Qualitative findings demonstrated that the SOIDET made positive contributions to the undergraduate students both individually and socially. They believed that similar positive effects/contributions would emerge if the SOIDET were implemented in universities. The study concludes by offering some suggestions for researchers and practitioners based on the findings.