Programs for Women in Science and Engineering: Types, Characteristics, and Outcomes

Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

Efforts to open pathways for women (and other underrepresented groups) in science and engineering frequently take the form of programs or sets of activities thought to have beneficial effects on the attraction, retention, and development of the targeted group. Such programmatic efforts are being planned and undertaken by NSF and by colleges and universities. With this grant, the investigator will conduct a systematic and empirical (quantitative and qualitative) assessment of the basic types, characteristics, and outcomes of programs. In the study of women in science and engineering, programs represent a critical site for analysis. This is because programs embody conceptions both of what is "wrong" and at issue, and what can be done to improve the participation and performance of women, and because a central claim of programs is that they have a positive effect upon outcomes. With a method involving survey questionnaires to university (registrar) administrators and to program directors, and site visits to a subset of the universe of programs for undergraduate women in science and engineering, the study addresses four focal research questions: (1) What are the range and complexity in programs' definitions of the problem/issue of women in science and engineering? (2) What are the patterns in solutions posed? (3) To what extent do solutions posed reflect definitions of the problem? (4) What is the relationship between various types-and characteristics-of programs and outcomes (proportion degrees awarded to women and women's attrition levels) within their institutions? A major objective is to help inform practice and policy in future efforts to tackle issues of women's participation and performance in science and engineering, by facilitating the intelligent devising of programmatic initiatives for gender equity. The study will do this by: (1) developing a useful typology that captures the elements and components of existing programs; (2) determining the statistical relationships between various types and characteristics of programs and outcomes; and (3) identifying generalizable aspects of model programs that seem to work particularly well. The study will also provide further understanding of programs as organizational phenomena, and point to both the potential for and limits of programs in relationship to the institutional environments in which they exist. It is intended and likely that the knowledge resulting from the study will improve our understanding of what is "at issue" about the condition of women in science and engineering, and of what can be done to plan future programs that effectively support women's participation and performance in science and engineering.