BCSER Building Capacity for A Longitudinal Mixed-Methods Explanation of Women’s Achievement and Attrition in Undergraduate Engineering Education

University Of Maryland Baltimore County, Baltimore MD

Investigators

Abstract

In this capacity building project, the investigator proposes to develop a model for inquiry in engineering education research that accommodates a range of complementary data types, data sources, points of time, and conceptual lenses while concurrently acquiring skills in explanatory sequential mixed-methods STEM education research. The research project aims to model patterns of major behavior data among undergraduate women entering and exiting an engineering program prior to graduation, elucidate the cultural ecosystem of undergraduate engineering education and its relationship to women’s achievement motivation, and examine the structural modes of power, privilege, and socialization within the discipline. Concurrently, the investigator proposes to implement a professional development plan that will expand the investigator’s skills in mixed-methods, longitudinal design, and analysis of large-scale institutional datasets, advanced statistical modeling techniques, and expertise in undergraduate engineering education curriculum development. The project will add significantly to the understanding of women’s experiences and decisions about engineering on a broad scale and generate information to improve practice in social science research, engineering education research, and higher education administration. The study will be guided by input-environment models, ecological and ecosystems studies, and theories of identity-based motivation. The investigator will leverage the three approaches to investigate two research questions: (1) What patterns of engineering major-switching and course-taking behavior are related to retention and graduation among undergraduate women from 2006 to 2016?, (2a) How do perceptions of the undergraduate engineering education ecosystem compare among women who persist in the major and those who do not?, and (2b) Which experiences in this context are most meaningful to their achievement motivation in the field? A mixed-methods research design will be used to examine diversity among women as well as hierarchies of privilege and power that structure academic life. The research focuses not only on the person but also on the interactions of individuals with their surroundings. The study also will address changes in embedded educational contexts over time and analyze the dynamic between retrospective accounts of alumni and recent reflections of current students. The findings will provide valuable insights about how to provide transformative experiences in engineering education for undergraduate women. The project is supported by the Building Capacity in STEM Education Research competition of the EHR Core Research Program (ECR). ECR funds fundamental research that focuses on STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM fields, and STEM professional workforce development. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.