Research Initiation: Investigating the role of social responsibility on Veteran student retention

社会责任是职业对社会产生积极影响的方式。这是军队所有部门的核心理想之一，也是许多学生选择学习工程的原因。本研究的目的是确定社会责任的原则在军队服务和退伍军人的工程学位的追求之间的关系。 有几个项目可以帮助退伍军人从服役过渡到平民生活，包括支持高等教育。许多退伍军人进入工程学位课程;然而，这些学生的辍学/解雇率明显高于全国其他工程专业的学生。不幸的是，缺乏关于如何理解和提高工程专业老学生毕业率的研究。 这项研究的结果将使研究人员能够设计干预措施，以提高全国资深工程专业学生毕业生的数量。资深的学生群体带来了独特的背景和经验，有助于发展多元化，具有全球竞争力的工程劳动力的国家倡议。这项研究的更广泛的影响包括：（1）通过工程多样化的途径，（2）增加资深学生在工程方面的成功，（3）吸引广泛的资深参与者，（4）整合工程和教育教师之间的指导，为未来工程教育提案的合作奠定基础。该项目提出并回答了研究问题：社会责任在减少工程专业老学生流失方面的作用是什么？研究方法是使用Dillman量身定制的设计方法创建一个调查，以确定退伍军人和一年级工程专业学生的社会责任态度。由具有工程背景的资深人士组成的外部咨询委员会作为外部专家审查小组参与，为调查项目提供基线有效性。调查的结果以及教师和老学生焦点小组的访谈，以确定是否社会责任的概念积极影响老学生保留。该调查基于现有的模型来衡量退伍军人学生的社会责任，是了解退伍军人学生流失的一种新方法。PI期望调查结果为其他研究问题和/或与工程专业老学生保留相关的项目提供框架和理由。在高等教育中确定退伍军人学生的动机是所有大学中退伍军人学生保留的根本进步。此外，由于社会责任是代表性不足的学生的动力，PI预计这些研究结果将直接影响整个工程的学生毕业率，并有可能进一步使工程学位的途径多样化。PI计划通过国家工程/退伍军人会议，研讨会，同行评审的出版物和杂志向工程教育工作者和军事选民传播研究成果。

Social responsibility is the way a career can positively impact society. It is one of the core ideals of all branches of the military and why many students choose to study engineering. The goal of this research is to determine the relationship between the principle of social responsibility in military service and veterans' pursuit of engineering degrees. Several programs exist to help veterans transition from service to civilian life, including support for higher education. Many veterans enter engineering degree programs; however, the dropout/dismissal rate of these students is significantly higher than other engineering students nationally. Unfortunately, research is lacking on how to understand and improve graduation rates of veteran students in engineering. Results of this study will allow researchers to design interventions for improving the number of veteran engineering student graduates nationwide. The veteran student population brings unique backgrounds and experiences that contribute to the national initiative of developing a diverse, globally competitive engineering workforce. Broader impacts of this research include: (1) diversifying pathways through engineering, (2) increasing veteran student success in engineering, (3) engaging a wide range of veteran participants, and (4) integrating mentoring between engineering and education faculty to build a foundation for future collaboration on engineering education proposals.This project asks and answers the research question: What is the role of social responsibility in reducing veteran student attrition in engineering? The research approach is to create a survey using the Dillman Tailored Design method to identify social responsibility attitudes in veteran and first-year engineering students. An External Advisory Board comprised of veterans with engineering backgrounds is involved as an external expert review panel to provide baseline validity for the survey items. The results of the survey as well as interviews of faculty and a veteran student focus group are used to determine if concepts of social responsibility positively influence veteran student retention. The survey, based on an existing model to measure social responsibility in veteran students, is a novel approach to understanding veteran student attrition. The PIs expect the results of the survey to provide a framework and justification for other research questions and/or projects related to veteran student retention in engineering. Determining veteran student motivation in higher education is a fundamental advancement in veteran student retention across all colleges. Furthermore, as social responsibility is a motivator for underrepresented students, the PIs expect these research findings to directly impact student graduation rates across engineering with the potential to even further diversify pathways to engineering degrees. The PIs plan to disseminate research findings to engineering educators and military constituents through national engineering/veteran conferences, workshops, peer-reviewed publications, and magazines.