GSE/RES: Collaborative Research: Potential Recruits in Engineering: A Longitudinal Study of Diverse Academically-able Young Women's Views of Engineering as a Career

这项拟议中的研究是一项原创性的调查，目的是研究有学术能力的年轻女性（她们可能会被招募到工程领域）如何了解工程专业。这项为期三年的合作研究，采用参与式行动方法、定性方法和定量措施，将为女性探索工程作为职业提供“种子”，然后研究种族、社会经济和地理上不同的年轻高中女性是如何了解工程职业的。它旨在分析年轻女性的职业探索之旅，塑造她们职业意识的影响，以及她们在探索经历结束时和之后对工程职业选择的看法和感受。这项研究将包括来自3个州和11个地点的120名不同的参与者（非裔美国人、拉丁裔、美洲印第安人和欧美人）。这项研究为解决这个问题提供了一个新的视角和创新的方法，即为什么工程领域的女性（包括有色人种女性）如此之少，以及如何减少这种不平衡？在研究的职业探索阶段，有学术能力但对工程不感兴趣的年轻女性将被鼓励指导和记录她们自己学习工程的方法。通过鼓励妇女自己的职业探索和思考，并使用当前和适合青年的通信技术，项目负责人打算引出她们对工程作为一个研究领域和职业选择的“真实”观点。这种方法不同于目前的许多研究，这些研究记录了年轻女性对工程缺乏兴趣和参与，但没有直接调查年轻女性在探索其职业潜力时如何看待和感知这一职业。此外，该研究将通过确定年轻妇女对工程作为职业选择的态度和决策的特点和主题，为职业发展文献提供有价值的信息。此外，随着时间的推移，通过研究不同的年轻女性自己的观点，本研究将提供对与工程专业相关的性别、青年和多元文化立场的更深入、更丰富的理解。更广泛的影响在全国范围内，本研究旨在发现和描述不同人群的年轻女性的职业探索经历。它还试图研究年轻女性在考虑未来职业选择时对工程学不感兴趣的原因。这项研究旨在提供知识，以扩大工程人员队伍，并支持学术界和工业界目前正在进行的多元化和多元文化倡议。研究结果将通过高等教育、商业社区和专业协会传播，促进对那些在工程队伍中未被充分代表的人的更深层次的敏感。这将主要通过在专业协会会议上发表报告、在同行评议的期刊和流行的新闻场所以及网站上发表出版物来完成。

The proposed research is an original investigation of how academically-able young women, who might be recruits to engineering, learn about the engineering profession. The collaborative three-year study, using participatory action methodology, qualitative methods, and quantitative measures, will "seed" the women's explorations of engineering as a career and then examine how racially, socio-economically, and geographically diverse young high school women come to know the profession of engineering. It aims to analyze the young women's career exploration journey, the influences that shape their sense of the profession, and their views and feelings about their career options in engineering at the conclusion of the exploration experience and beyond. The study will include 120 diverse (African American, Latina, American Indian, and Euro-American) participants in 3 states and 11 sites.Intellectual MeritThe study offers a new perspective and innovative methodology to address the question, why are there so few women, including women of color, in engineering and how might this imbalance be lessened? In the career exploration phase of the study, young women who are academically-able but not already interested in engineering will be encouraged to direct and document their own approach to what they learn about engineering. By encouraging the women's own career explorations and reflections, and using current and appropriate-for-youth communication technologies, the PIs intend to elicit their "authentic" perspectives on engineering as a field of study and a career choice. This approach is different from much current research that documents young women's lack of interest and participation in engineering but does not directly investigate how young women see and perceive the profession while they explore its career potential. In addition, the study will contribute valuable information to the career development literature by identifying features and themes of young women's attitudes and decision-making about engineering as a career option. Moreover, by examining diverse young women's own views over time, this research will provide a deeper and richer understanding of gender, youth, and multicultural standpoints in relation to the engineering profession.Broader ImpactsOn a broad national scale, this study seeks to discover and describe the career exploration experiences of a diverse population of young women. It also seeks to examine the reasons for the disinterest in engineering of young women as they consider future career options. The study aims to provide knowledge to expand the engineering workforce as well as to support diversity and multicultural initiatives currently underway in academia and industry. Dissemination of the findings will be through higher education, business communities, and professional societies, catalyzing deeper sensitivity toward those underrepresented in the engineering ranks. This will be accomplished primarily through presentations at professional association conferences, publications in peer-reviewed journals and popular press venues, and web sites.