PGE: PLN Girls' Career-Relevant Interests in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology: Examining Outcome Expectations, Perceived Barriers, and Perceived Supports

University Of North Carolina Greensboro, Greensboro NC

Investigators

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to increase our understanding of the early career development of girls as they form opinions, develop belief structures, and make decisions about career options in science, mathematics, engineering, and/or technology careers by expanding our theoretical framework and empirical base to include a more direct focus on the influence of outcome expectations, perceived barriers, and perceived support. The need to conduct inquiry into the role of outcome beliefs in the development, stability, and change in career interests, and to examine contextual factors that impact the eventual entry of young girls and women into the pipeline toward pursuing scientific and technical careers provides the framework for the research. This planning grant involves the recruitment and commitment of several collaborating researchers, research institutions, and school systems. Collaborative researchers will provide the expertise across the disciplines of counseling, educational psychology , and science. Collaboration across institutions will provide the opportunity for multiple sites to bring existing resources to bear on the problem and allow for research across widely varying demographics and locations. Multiple school systems will contribute to the opportunity to generalize to populations of rural, suburban, and urban youth, as well as varying socioeconomic groups. The planning year will include the identification of a sufficiently large and diverse sample of girls, and the design and pilot testing of both qualitative and quantitative instrumentation. This study will use a multimethod approach to examine the outcome expectations and perceived barriers and supports ofgirls, ages 10-14, the impact of these expectations on career-related interests, and, if funded through a future grant, the development of these interestS and outcome expectations over time. Focus groups will be used to identify factors to be used in the development of items for several Q-sorts and to be incorporated into assessment tools. Quantitative instruments that will measure the constructs of interest will be designed, when necessary , revised when appropriate, and then pilot tested with middle school youth.