Pathways into Careers in Information Technology: Community College Student Decision-Making about Academic Programs and Jobs

技术人员项目的毕业生有机会进入高收入、高要求的职业。然而，只有20%的社区大学学生在六年内完成了他们的学习计划。先前的研究强调了社区大学学生面临的挑战。然而，职业发展文献对社区大学生及其决策过程的研究很少。关于社区大学生在技术领域的研究文献更是缺乏。这个研究项目的目标是增加对学生在两年制院校攻读证书（如学位和证书）和从事信息技术职业时所作决定的理解。研究重点是信息技术（IT），因为它为学生提供了广泛的机会和专业。此外，许多两年制院校已经开发了IT项目，以满足对IT专业人员日益增长的需求。该项目依靠多种数据来源，汇集了一个多学科团队来调查学生的决策。这个定量和定性混合方法的研究项目将研究学生的经历和信息资源如何影响他们的决策，特别是在他们进入大学的早期，以及这个过程如何随着时间的推移而演变。纵向和横断面混合方法研究采用多学科的理论方法，借鉴了职业发展、心理学、社会学和经济学的文献。本研究采用了多种研究方法，包括学生调查、深度纵向学生访谈、与教师和管理人员的定点访谈、行政记录的二次数据分析、实地访问和文献分析。定量和定性数据收集和分析的目的是调查、三角测量、测试和确认结果。该研究项目旨在为学生、公众、社区大学/技术教育专业人员和政策制定者提供有用的知识，以提高学生在先进技术项目中的成功程度，并满足对中等技能劳动力的需求。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Graduates of technician programs have opportunities to enter well-paying, high-demand careers. However, only 20% of community college students complete their programs of study within six years. Prior research highlights the challenges facing students at community colleges. However, the career development literature includes little research on community college students and their decision-making processes. The literature is even more lacking about community college students in technician fields. The goal of this research project is to increase understanding of the decisions students make in pursuing credentials (e.g., degrees and certificates) at two-year institutions, and in pursuing careers in information technology. The research focuses on Information Technology (IT) because it offers students a wide-array of opportunities and specialties. In addition, many two-year institutions have developed IT programs to address the growing need for IT professionals. Relying on multiple sources of data, the project brings together a multidisciplinary team to investigate student decision-making. This quantitative and qualitative mixed methods research project will examine how students' experiences and information resources influence their decision making, particularly early in their enrollment in college, and how that process evolves over time. The longitudinal and cross-sectional mixed methods study takes a multidisciplinary theoretical approach, drawing on literature from career development, psychology, sociology, and economics. The study employs a variety of research methods, including student surveys, in-depth longitudinal student interviews, point-in-time interviews with faculty and administrators, secondary data analysis of administrative records, site visits, and document analysis. The quantitative and qualitative data collection and analyses are designed to investigate, triangulate, test, and confirm findings. The research project is designed to generate knowledge useful to students, the public, community college/technician education professionals, and policy-makers committed to increasing student success in advanced technological programs and to meeting the demand for a middle skills workforce.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.