Research careers for Hispanic students: Testing the Multiple Worlds model

描述(由申请者提供)：这项提案的总体目标是调查西班牙裔高中生在追求生物医学和行为科学职业方面的动机、信念和行为的变化。该提案的关键创新包括在关键的教育阶段接触到未被充分代表的少数族裔人口，在这一背景下测试一个重要的社会科学教育成就理论(费兰、戴维森和俞敏洪的“多个世界”框架)；以及应用纵向多地点混合方法设计，将产生比典型研究更丰富的定量和定性数据。“多个世界”框架假设学生在至少3个世界中同时行动，这些世界的特征是他们的学者、他们的家人和他们的同龄人。我们的主要研究问题是，费兰的模型是否提供了描述和预测教育轨迹的能力，从而能够追求科学事业。该项目有三个具体目标：1.描述和比较拉美裔学生与芝加哥五所高中其他种族学生学习生物医学/行为科学的动机的纵向轨迹。我们假设不同种族和不同教育项目的学生之间存在显著差异。2.调查西班牙裔学生的父母对生物医学/行为科学研究的知识和态度，并描述父母特征与学生发展轨迹之间的关系。我们假设，西班牙裔学生之间的轨迹差异将与父母对科学工作性质的理解密切相关。3.考察学生的发展轨迹与同龄人的社会网络关系。我们假设，学生在教育轨迹上倾向于与同龄人相似，甚至控制了父母的特征，与同龄人的紧密联系将独立地促进或阻碍科学教育(取决于同龄人群体中的价值观星座)。 公共卫生相关性：这个项目通过研究一些理论来促进公共卫生，这些理论建议如何增加少数族裔学生，特别是西班牙裔学生在生物医学和行为科学研究领域的参与。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The overall goal of this proposal is to examine changes in motivation, beliefs, and behaviors related to pursuing careers in biomedical and behavioral science among Hispanic high school students. The proposal's key innovations include access to an underrepresented minority population at a critical educational stage, testing an important social scientific theory of educational achievement (Phelan, Davison, and Yu's "multiple worlds" framework) in this context; and application of a longitudinal multi-site mixed-methods design that will produce richer quantitative and qualitative data than typical studies. The "multiple worlds" framework posits that students act simultaneously in at least 3 worlds, characterized by their academics, their family, and their peers. Our primary research question asks whether Phelan's model provides the ability to describe and predict educational trajectories leading to the ability to pursue scientific careers. The project has three specific aims: 1. To describe and compare longitudinal trajectories of motivation to pursue biomedical/behavior science pathways among Hispanic students compared with students of other ethnicities at five Chicago high schools. We hypothesize significant differences among students of different ethnicities and in different educational programs. 2. To examine parental knowledge and attitudes toward careers in biomedical/behavioral science research among Hispanic students, and describe associations between parental characteristics and student trajectories. We hypothesize that differences in trajectories among Hispanic students will be strongly associated with parental understanding of the nature of scientific work. 3. To examine social-network relationships between students' trajectories and those of their peers. We hypothesize that students will tend to resemble their peers in their educational trajectories, even controlling for parental characteristics, and that strong connections to peers will independently facilitate or deter scientific education (depending on the constellation of values in the peer group). PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: This project contributes to public health by studying theories that suggest ways to increase the participation of underrepresented minority students, specifically Hispanic students, in careers in research in the biomedical and behavioral sciences