- Award ID(s):
- PAR ID:
- Publisher / Repository:
- Sage Journals
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Teachers College Record: The Voice of Scholarship in Education
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1 to 58
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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This work in progress paper describes the development of an instrument to assess graduate student motivation towards doctoral degree completion. Doctoral attrition rates in the United States have been estimated to be around 40% over a 10 year completion period . King  also found that less than 20% of students complete their doctoral programs in the expected timeframe of between 3 and 4 years. These results indicate the need to better understand factors that affect graduate students' experience during their doctoral program, particularly their choice to persist, so we can ensure equal opportunities for Ph.D completion. Spaulding and Rockinson-Szapkiw  talk about personal factors that contribute to doctoral students’ persistence. These factors include motivation, strategies for writing the dissertation, time management, and attributes such as credibility, commitment, and increased monetary compensation. As part of this research study, we have selected to focus upon student motivation as motivation theories have been found to provide explanations for factors that influence individuals choices and actions . Specifically, we have selected the Expectancy-Value Theory (EVT) of motivation because it considers social, cultural, and psychological factors , making it beneficial for elements that could be relevant in a graduate studies program. This work seeks to create a motivational instrument specific to an engineering graduate studies program setting. Our instrument development process began with the Engineering Motivation Survey, developed by Brown & Matusovich . This survey instrument was designed to measure motivation of undergraduate engineering students towards engineering education and career choices. Ultimately, the purpose was to measure motivational factors that contribute toward choices to pursue and complete engineering degrees. The 35 likert scale questions were rephrased to focus on a graduate student setting. After the rephrasing, the draft survey was used in a Think-aloud protocol with six engineering graduate students to determine what changes may be needed to better support its new area of implementation. Upon finalization of the graduate student engineering motivation survey we will apply it to measure civil and environmental engineering graduate students’ motivation towards their doctoral degree completion as part of their participation in a Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN) program.more » « less
A growing body of research explores the experiences of students in graduate education and more-particularly, students of color pursuing advanced degrees. However, little research provides information about Black students' aspirations to pursue graduate education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Even less is known about Black males' aspirations to pursue graduate education in STEM. Knowing why Black males aspire to pursue graduate education would assist stakeholders (e.g., administrators, faculty, advisors, family members, and peers) in better supporting and motivating students while they are in graduate school, or earlier in their educational trajectories. This retrospective study of 50 Black males' aspirations for graduate school aimed tobetter understand the factors that influenced their aspirations to pursue graduate degrees in engineering.Four themes were most influential: (a) Black male students received messages implying that a bachelor's degree was insufficient, (b) earning a graduate degree in engineering was regarded as a sign of community influence and respect, (c) students' professorial career goals necessitated anadvanced degree, and (d) mothers functioned as support systems and role models for earning an advanced degree. Finally, we offer implications for future research and practice. These new findings about aspirations regarding graduate education will assist stakeholders in identifying critical moments and experiences necessary to encourage talented individuals to pursue advanced degrees in STEM fields.more » « less
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) operate and are centered within the nexus of concerted nationwide efforts to advance the participation and success of Black students within the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines (STEM). Through an institution-levelasset-based approach, this study aimed to further elucidate how undergraduate STEM preparation and success at HBCUs is linked to the transition into (and experiences within) graduate education. One hundred and fifty-one HBCU alumni from 37 unique HBCUs completed our HBCU Alumni Success survey. Factor analysis revealed 13 emerging components along three main touchpoints along alumni's graduate pathway: their HBCU undergraduate experiences, graduate application, and decision-making, as well as graduate school experiences. Cluster analysis further identified five unique clusters of alumni, revealing variation regarding the individual, institutional, and cultural factors that contributed to HBCU alumni's experiences within their graduate pathway. Specific attributes that characterized each unique cluster included (Cluster 1) experiencing challenges throughout theirgraduate pathway, (Cluster 2) variation in the sources of motivation that influenced graduate school choice, (Cluster 3) deliberation around attending graduate school, (Cluster 4) high commitment, success, and support in pursuit of a graduate degree, and (Cluster 5) high personal agency as well as faculty and research support within engineering. Implications for practice include capitalizing on the areas of success such as the impact of faculty mentorship and research opportunities.
This paper analyses the social‐psychological processes of social comparison and relative deprivation with regard to race, gender, and their intersections in STEM higher education through the narratives of 33 Black respondents who described their experiences within engineering and computer science doctoral programs. I use social comparison and relative deprivation, a subsidiary theory of social comparison, as guiding theoretical frameworks. Since the intersections of race and gender are salient, I also incorporate an intersectional framework as an analytical tool. Through data derived from semi‐structured interviews, I find that, when describing graduate‐school experiences, Black engineering and computer science respondents use social comparisons with regard to race, gender, and their intersections to juxtapose their experiences with those of their peers. Participants described feeling relatively deprived due to inequities resulting from racism and/or sexism and primarily felt that STEM privileged students that were Asian men. Nevertheless, Black men described downward social comparisons with their Black female counterparts, recognizing the sexist culture of STEM. Overall, however, social comparison processes led Black respondents to identify inequities within their Ph.D. programs in engineering and computer science that made them feel as though STEM was not intended for them, but, rather, for their Asian and white male peers who are positioned as belonging.
Abstract Background In addition to the benefits of a diverse faculty, many institutions are under pressure from students and administrators to increase the number of faculty from historically excluded backgrounds. Despite increases in the numbers of engineering PhD earners from these groups, the percentages of Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino tenure‐track faculty have not increased, and the percentage of women remains low.
Purpose The purpose of this study is to identify how experiences in graduate school encourage or deter PhD earners from historically excluded groups in pursuing an engineering academic career.
Method We conducted 20 semi‐structured interviews with engineering PhD students and recent graduates, with half of participants interested and half disinterested in pursuing an academic career after graduation.
Results Three key factors emerged as strongly influential on participants' desire to pursue an academic career: their relationship with their advisor, their perception of their advisor's work–life balance, and their perception of the culture of academia. Participants extrapolated their experiences in graduate school to their imagined lives as faculty. The results illuminate the reasons why engineering PhD earners from historically underrepresented groups remain in or leave the academic career pathway after graduate school.
Conclusions The findings of this study have important implications for how graduate students' and postdoc's relationships with their advisors as well as perceptions of their advisors' work–life balances and the culture of academia affect future faculty. We make recommendations on what students, faculty, and administrators can do to create a more inclusive environment to encourage students from historically excluded groups to consider academic careers.