PathTech LIFE: Constructing a National Survey of Engineering Technology Students through Regional and Statewide Testing

Path Tech LIFE将为国家政策讨论做出贡献，讨论社区学院的作用以及先进技术领域在保持国家STEM劳动力的全球竞争力方面的重要性。通过开展全国调查和相关研究，该项目旨在确定工程技术(ET)先进技术领域的学生的特征、他们的学术道路、职业目标和学校-工作-生活之间的平衡问题，这些问题会影响他们注册和完成ET课程、返回继续学习ET课程和/或攻读证书或学位的决定。此外，该项目将确定在早期第一阶段研究中开发的基于质量的模型的普适性，该研究得到了ATE目标研究奖的支持。部分混合方法的序贯平等研究设计和工具开发基于成人入学的棱镜(通向更好生活的路径；反思性学习者；同步学习、收入和生活；与学术生活相匹配)决策模型；施洛斯伯格的咨询过渡理论；以及在研究第一阶段开发的解释性模型。该项目将采用有序最小二乘回归和多级回归技术以及分层线性建模，以审查和模拟人口统计和背景因素与调查结果之间的关系。该项目将根据因素分析、信度和效度测试以及专家同行评审的结果对调查工具进行测试和修订。

PathTech LIFE will contribute to the national policy discussion on the role of community colleges and the importance of advanced technological fields in maintaining the global competitiveness of the nation's STEM workforce. Through the development of a national survey and associated research, the project is designed to identify the characteristics of students in the advanced technological field of engineering technology (ET), their academic pathways, career goals, and school-work-life balance issues that impact their decisions to enroll in and complete ET courses, return for further ET coursework, and/or pursue a certificate or degree. Furthermore, the project will determine the generalizability of the qualitatively-based models developed during an earlier, first phase of the research, which has been supported by an ATE targeted research award. The partially mixed-methods sequential equal-status research design and instrument development are based on the PRiSM (Pathway to better life; Reflective learner; Synchronizing learning, earning, and living; Match with an academic life) Decision Model for Adult Enrollment; Schlossberg's Transition Theory from counseling; and the explanatory models developed during the first phase of the research. The project will employ ordinal least squares regression and multilevel regression techniques along with hierarchical linear modeling to examine and model the relationships among demographics and background factors and the outcomes under investigation. The project will test and revise the survey instrument based on results from factor analyses, tests of reliability and validity, and expert peer review.