Finding the Roots: Interactive Influence of Individual, High School, and College Institutional Factors on the Success of Women and Underrepresented Minorities in STEM Majors

在这个Step Type 2项目中，这项分两个阶段进行的多方法研究考察了导致女性完成STEM专业的可能性低于男性的结构性和个体因素。这项研究结合了纵向的定量成分和专注于研究对象的经验的定性成分。这项研究考察了结构/组织和个人因素以及这些因素对妇女从中学到大学在STEM学科取得成功的交互影响，在STEM学科中，妇女传统上代表的人数较少。研究的纵向方面的数据将与调查和深入访谈的数据相结合。该研究小组拥有从北卡罗来纳大学总局(北卡罗来纳大学系统的16个校区)和北卡罗来纳州公共教学部获得的现有纵向数据集的独特访问权。这项研究得到了该州主要教育机构的支持，这些机构同意为这两个系统的学生提供8-16年级的数据。这项研究的质量方面提供了丰富的数据来源，以便更详细地审查妇女在从8-12年级到成为STEM专业学生和高等教育机构毕业生的过程中所经历的经历。这项研究考察了性别、族裔/种族和社会经济地位与其他个人和结构/组织因素的关系，例如STEM教师的资格，按校园和系划分的教师性别构成，以及按校园和专业划分的学生群体的种族构成。对妇女(完成者、回避者和离校者)在STEM中的经历的关注有可能在这一研究领域做出重大贡献。基于国家教育机构的利益，这项研究有可能导致州一级的利益攸关方考虑其调查结果。

In this STEP Type 2 project, the two-phase multi-method study examines the structural and individual factors that contribute to women being less likely to complete STEM majors than men. The study combines both a longitudinal quantitative component and a qualitative component focused on the experiences of the research subjects. The study examines structural/organizational and individual factors and the interactive effects of these factors on women's success in STEM from middle school through colleges in STEM disciplines in which women are traditionally underrepresented. The data from the longitudinal aspect of the study will be combined with data from surveys and in-depth interviews. The research team has unique access to existing longitudinal data sets from the University of North Carolina General Administration (UNC system's 16 campuses) and the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. The study has the support of major educational institutions in the state that have agreed to provide grades 8-16 data for students in both systems. The qualitative aspect of the study provides a rich data source for examining in greater detail the experiences women have had as they make their way through grades 8-12 to becoming STEM majors in and graduates from post-secondary education institutions. The research examines the relationships among gender, ethnicity/race, and socio-economic status with other individual and structural/organizational factors, such as qualification of STEM teachers, gender composition of faculty by campus and by department, and the racial composition of student body by campus and by major. The focus on the experiences of women (completer, avoiders, and leavers) in STEM has the potential to make a major contribution in this area of research. Based on the interest of state educational institutions, the study has the potential to lead to the consideration of its findings by state-level stakeholders.