The Role of Artificial Intelligence in the Development of Research Competencies and Academic Inquiry Skills in Higher Education

Abstract

AI is increasingly a part of higher education, with its impact on student search, evaluation, synthesis, and communication of academic information. Its contribution to the development of research competencies and academic inquiry skills among different learners, such as students with disabilities, specific learning difficulties, and academic support needs however, has not been sufficiently explored. This study explored the correlation between academic growth, skills retention, and research skills indicators in higher education and AI engagement. A secondary quantitative design was used for the dataset of this study, which is publicly available, AI Usage & Student Academic Performance Analysis, consisting of 50,000 student records. Preprocessing, construct development, descriptive analysis, comparison of groups using AI, ANCOVA, machine learning prediction and explainable feature-importance analysis were performed using a Python notebook-based workflow. Moderate use of AI was found to be correlated with increased GPA gain, skills retained, academic inquiry proxy, and research competency proxy. The frequency of using AI was not sufficient to predict the skill of prompt-engineering or tool diversity, or baseline academic performance or traditional study hours. The study is summarized as follows: AI can be most useful in guiding inquiry when it is a "guided construct and scaffold" that is ethical, accessible, and inclusive. It provides an empirical modelling framework for research learning with AI support in inclusive higher education.