Exploration of the Effects of Race, Ethnicity and Socio-economic Class on Gender Stereotyping of STEM Disciplines

智力优点：在旨在了解导致女性在科学、技术、工程和数学（STEM）教育中代表性不足的因素的有希望的调查中，性别角色和STEM学科的性别陈规定型观念之间的一致性是一个有希望的调查方向。在某种程度上，有影响力的机构成员-如父母、教育工作者和媒体-加强了对男女角色、能力和职业选择的传统假设，一个人必须履行的不同角色所规定的生活中的后续行为可能会被这个人认为是不一致的或与之冲突的？的性别角色。因此，一个人接受的行为模式（或角色），通过解决或减少的情绪和认知的不和谐所造成的角色confliction.The下的代表性的妇女在IT领域经常解释使用组水平的分析表明，性别角色的期望占这下的代表性。然而，这种解释的一个问题是，它假设所有女性都收到类似的关于性别角色期望的信息，以同样的方式解释角色期望的信息，并采取类似的行为模式。然而，虽然妇女在构成社会的权力关系中集体屈服，可以被视为一个群体，但在群体内部，需要考虑妇女个人如何对性别角色期望作出反应。本研究调查了交叉群体成员-包括种族、族裔和社会阶层-对收到的关于性别角色的社会信息类型以及对这些社会信息的感知和反应的影响。通过调查性别、种族和社会阶层的交叉性，可能会发现妇女在信息技术领域代表性不足的更微妙的解释。本研究探讨的模式的行为差异和冲突解决的过程中，通过透镜艾琳特劳特？的性别和信息技术的个体差异理论，在以前的研究（NSF 0204246）。这种理论方法提供了解释性因素，有助于预测为什么有些妇女的兴趣和坚持在IT领域的劝阻，而其他人没有，即使这些妇女可能会遇到类似的性别角色的期望。在第一阶段，该工具的开发和管理，以男性和女性大学本科生的队列。在第二阶段，对数据进行分析并得出初步结果。在第三阶段，初步结果将被带回到正在研究的人群和焦点小组中，以完善对结果的解释。更广泛的影响：这项研究的结果将增加我们对影响女性IT职业选择的因素的理解，从而为社会干预提供信息，以增加女性和代表性不足的少数民族在STEM领域的参与。参与机构的本科生将参加焦点小组，其中将介绍初步结果。这将有助于提高学生对他们遇到的挑战和克服这些挑战的策略的认识。研究人员将他们自己的身份和多样性经验带到这项研究中。所有人都是妇女，但她们不同的种族（欧美人、印度裔美国人和非洲裔美国人）导致了她们自己不同的性别角色陈规定型观念经历。

Intellectual merit: Among the promising lines of investigation directed at understanding the factors that account for the under representation of females in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education is the congruence between gender roles and gender stereotyping of STEM disciplines. To the extent that influential institutional members--such as parents, educators and the media--reinforce traditional assumptions about the roles, aptitudes, and career options for men and women, subsequent behaviors in life prescribed by different roles that an individual has to perform may be experienced by that individual as incongruent or in conflict with one?s perceived gender role. Consequently, a person accepts a pattern of behaviors (or roles) by resolving or reducing the emotional and cognitive dissonance caused by role conflict.The under representation of women in the IT field is frequently explained using group level analysis suggesting that the gender role expectations account for this under representation. However, a problem with this explanation is that it assumes that all females receive similar messages regarding gender role expectations, interpret role senders' messages in the same manner, and adopt similar patterns of behavior. However, while women can be seen to be a group with respect to their collective subjugation in power relations that structure society, within group variation needs to be considered with respect to how individual women respond to gender role expectations. This study investigates the effect of intersecting group membership--including race, ethnicity and social class--on the types of societal messages about gender role received as well as the perception of and response to these societal messages. By investigating the intersectionality of gender, race and social class a more nuanced explanation of the underrepresentation of women in IT may be uncovered. The research examines the patterns of behavioral differences and the process of conflict resolutions through the lens of Eileen Trauth?s Individual Differences Theory of Gender and IT that was developed in prior research (NSF 0204246). This theoretical approach provides explanatory factors that help predict why some women's interest and persistence in the IT field are discouraged while others are not, even though these women may experience similar gender role expectations.This project involves three phases. In Phase I the instrument is developed and administered to a cohort of both male and female university undergraduates. In Phase II the data are analyzed and preliminary results produced. In Phase III the preliminary results are taken back to the populations being studied and focus groups conducted in order to refine the interpretation of the results.Broader impact: The results of this research will add to our understanding of the factors influencing IT career choice among women, thereby informing societal interventions to increase participation of females and underrepresented minorities in STEM fields. Undergraduate students at participating institutions will attend focus groups in which the preliminary results will be presented. This will serve to increase student consciousness about challenges they encounter and strategies for overcoming them. The investigators bring their own identities and experiences of diversity to this research. All are women yet their different ethnicities (Euro-American, Indian-American, and African-American) have resulted in their own, different experiences of gender role stereotyping.