Effects of College Degree Program Culture on Female and Minority Student STEM Participation

本研究调查中学后学位课程文化的战略选择样本的佛罗里达州立大学系统（SUS）的学校和佛罗里达社区学院。具体来说，该项目正在比较和对比那些成功的STEM项目与那些在STEM领域毕业的代表性不足的人群中不那么成功的STEM项目。大学学位课程文化是使用混合方法和多层次采用定性和定量数据收集技术来衡量的。本研究主要围绕以下几个问题展开：1.什么上下文（例如，STEM项目中的文化/气候）因素会影响学生在这些领域成功完成大学学位的动机和能力吗？2.这些因素是否对女生和代表性不足的少数民族成员产生不同的影响？3.学生自我报告的离开STEM项目的原因如何与项目气候/文化的客观，独立的措施进行比较？4.项目和学校之间的哪些特定文化/气候差异与这些项目的成功毕业女性和少数民族学生有关？智力价值这项研究代表了组织文化和气候研究的最新水平。因此，它不仅有可能为有关教育和STEM职业的知识库做出贡献，而且还可以更广泛地为有关组织文化和气候以及它们影响重要组织成果的方式的文献做出贡献。文化的测量是困难和耗时的，而这个由人类学家、工业心理学家和社会学家组成的多元化团队是唯一有资格收集高质量项目文化信息的团队。通过使用佛罗里达的档案数据库建立该团队目前的研究，这项研究也可以有效地进行。最后，也是最重要的是，目前关于STEM项目如何影响学生完成STEM项目的动机和能力的知识是有限的，尽管人们普遍认为项目背景很重要。这项研究将导致对STEM部门和学位课程的文化，气候和实践的全面了解，这些方面支持和提高学生保留率和STEM学位完成率，特别是对代表性不足的群体的成员。在制定干预措施方面，重点是改善学位课程文化和其他环境因素，以提高本科生在STEM领域获得学位的兴趣和能力。该研究还通过发展USF教育研究人员与佛罗里达州-乔治亚州路易斯斯托克斯少数民族参与联盟之间的伙伴关系，将研究与实践联系起来，该计划专注于增加STEM学士学位获得者的数量。此外，由于女性和少数族裔是美国劳动力中增长最快的部门，因此必须吸引和保持他们对STEM教育和职业的兴趣。 这项研究的结果将提供所需的知识基础，以改善旨在增加STEM学生招聘和保留的干预措施，特别是对妇女和少数民族，这可以通过确保多元化和合格的STEM劳动力来促进健康的经济。研究结果不仅将广泛传播给学术界，还将直接传播给致力于建设未来STEM劳动力的教育工作者和政策制定者。

This study is investigating postsecondary degree program cultures in a strategically selected sample of Florida State University System (SUS) schools and Florida Community Colleges. Specifically, the project is comparing and contrasting STEM programs that are successful with those that are not as successful in graduating underrepresented populations in STEM fields. College degree program culture is measured using mixed methods and at multiple levels employing both qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques. This research is guided by the following questions:1. What contextual (e.g., cultural/climate) factors in STEM programs affect students' motivation and ability to successfully complete college degrees in these areas?2. Do these factors differentially impact female students and members of underrepresented minorities?3. How do students' self-reported reasons for leaving a STEM program compare withobjective, independent measures of the program climate/culture?4. Which specific culture/climate differences between programs and schools areassociated with these programs' success graduating females and minority students?Intellectual MeritThe research represents the state-of-the-art in organizational culture and climate research. As such, it has the potential not only to contribute to the knowledge base concerning education and STEM careers, but also to contribute more broadly to the literature on organizational culture and climate and the ways in which they affect important organizational outcomes. The measurement of culture is difficult and time consuming, and this diverse team of anthropologists, industrial psychologists and sociologists is uniquely qualified to collect high quality program culture information. By building on the team's current research using archival databases in Florida, this research can be conducted efficiently as well. Finally, and most importantly, the current state of knowledge concerning how STEM programs affect a student's motivation and ability to complete STEM programs is limited, even though it is widely believed that the program context is important. The research will result in a comprehensive understanding of those aspects of the culture, climate, and practices in STEM departments and degree programs that support and enhance student retention and STEM degree completion, particularly for members of underrepresented groups.Broader ImpactThe research questions being addressed in this study have implications for higher education policy throughout the U.S., in terms of developing interventions that focus on improving degree program culture and other contextual factors to increase undergraduate students' interests in and ability to obtain degrees in STEM fields. The research also bridges research with practice by developing a partnership between USF education researchers and the Florida-Georgia Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation, a program focused on increasing numbers of STEM bachelor's degree recipients. In addition, since women and minorities are the fastest growing sectors of the U.S. workforce, it is imperative to attract and maintain their interest in STEM education and careers. Results of this research will provide the knowledge base needed to improve interventions that seek to increase STEM student recruitment and retention, particularly for women and minorities, and this can promote a healthy economy by ensuring a diverse and well-qualified STEM workforce. Results will be disseminated widely not only to the academic community but also directly to the educators and policy makers who are working to build the future STEM workforce.