Latina Engineering Student Graduate Study Decision Processes—Development and Initial Results of a Mixed-Methods Investigation

Bruce Frederick Carroll; Janice Mejía; Kent J. Crippen; Sheila Castro

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Conference: 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Portland, Oregon
Publication Date: June 23, 2024
Start Date: June 23, 2024
End Date: June 26, 2024
Conference Session: Educational Research and Methods Division (ERM) Technical Session 3
Tagged Division: Educational Research and Methods Division (ERM)
Tagged Topic: Diversity
Page Count: 7
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--47714
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/47714
Download Count: 42

Paper Authors

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Bruce Frederick Carroll University of Florida orcid.org/0000-0003-1747-8951

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Dr. Carroll is an Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the University of Florida. He holds an affiliate appointment in Engineering Education. His research interests include engineering identity, self-efficacy, and matriculation of Latin/a/o students to graduate school. He works with survey methods and overlaps with machine learning using quantitative methods and sequential mixed methods approaches.

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Janice Mejía Northwestern University orcid.org/0000-0002-7913-3011

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Dr. Mejía is an Associate Professor of Instruction in the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences. She also teaches in the Design Thinking and Communication (DTC), Masters in Engineering Management (MEM), and College Prep programs. Her research interests focus on mixed methods research in engineering education, curriculum assessment and development, and engineering identity.

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Kent J. Crippen University of Florida orcid.org/0000-0002-8981-2376

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Kent Crippen is a Professor of STEM education in the School of Teaching and Learning at the University of Florida and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

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Sheila Castro University of Florida

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Sheila Castro is a doctoral student in Science Education at the University of Florida's School of Teaching and Learning. Her research focuses on Latina's STEM identity, family support, and influences on the experiences of undergraduate engineering students.

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Abstract

In this work in progress paper, we describe the design of a study to explore the social, cultural, educational, and institutional factors affecting matriculation of undergraduate Latina engineering students into graduate engineering programs and/or engineering careers. Motivation for this study comes from recent observations that Latina engineering students are significantly less likely to attend graduate school than women from other ethnic or racial groups. These observations are consistent with overall under-representation of Latina/o and Hispanic populations in terms of both engineering degrees attained and in terms of participation in STEM professions. Relatively little is known about the factors affecting graduate school matriculation of the Latina population in engineering and other STEM disciplines.

Traditional approaches to understanding student academic success often focus on the student’s ability or inability to fully integrate within the institutional structure. This perspective tends to focus on under-represented minority student deficits relative to the majority population of successful students. In recognition that a deficit-based perspective potentially misses key parameters related to success of minority students, a growing body of work is adopting an asset-based perspective by investigating social and cultural capital students employ to achieve desired educational outcomes. In the current investigation, a mixed-methods approach is adopted that blends the more traditional institutional integration perspective with the evolving and broader social and cultural capital framework. An explanatory sequential design is developed with a quantitative first phase informing and guiding a qualitative second phase. The quantitative initial phase employs a survey instrument derived by blending elements of the College Achievement Model with quantitative implementations of the Community Cultural Wealth Model, which are generally qualitative frameworks. Thus, achieving a quantitative implementation that holds true to the underlying perspectives of this asset-based approach brings up challenges that are discussed within the paper. The qualitative second phase emphasizes how students utilize social and cultural assets when making decisions related to career choices and potential graduate study. Results from the first-phase are used to inform the qualitative portion of the investigation by providing insights for focus group questioning routines. Emphasis in the second-phase is placed on understanding how Latina engineering students use various forms of capital to find academic success and how these forms of capital influence career and graduate study decisions.

This work in progress paper describes the trials and tribulations of the mixed-methods design process. Efforts to balance the two theoretical perspectives are discussed and initial results from the quantitative portion of the study are presented.

Citation
Format

Carroll, B. F., & Mejía, J., & Crippen, K. J., & Castro, S. (2024, June), Latina Engineering Student Graduate Study Decision Processes—Development and Initial Results of a Mixed-Methods Investigation Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--47714

TY - CPAPER
AB - In this work in progress paper, we describe the design of a study to explore the social, cultural, educational, and institutional factors affecting matriculation of undergraduate Latina engineering students into graduate engineering programs and/or engineering careers. Motivation for this study comes from recent observations that Latina engineering students are significantly less likely to attend graduate school than women from other ethnic or racial groups. These observations are consistent with overall under-representation of Latina/o and Hispanic populations in terms of both engineering degrees attained and in terms of participation in STEM professions. Relatively little is known about the factors affecting graduate school matriculation of the Latina population in engineering and other STEM disciplines.

Traditional approaches to understanding student academic success often focus on the student’s ability or inability to fully integrate within the institutional structure. This perspective tends to focus on under-represented minority student deficits relative to the majority population of successful students. In recognition that a deficit-based perspective potentially misses key parameters related to success of minority students, a growing body of work is adopting an asset-based perspective by investigating social and cultural capital students employ to achieve desired educational outcomes. In the current investigation, a mixed-methods approach is adopted that blends the more traditional institutional integration perspective with the evolving and broader social and cultural capital framework. An explanatory sequential design is developed with a quantitative first phase informing and guiding a qualitative second phase. The quantitative initial phase employs a survey instrument derived by blending elements of the College Achievement Model with quantitative implementations of the Community Cultural Wealth Model, which are generally qualitative frameworks. Thus, achieving a quantitative implementation that holds true to the underlying perspectives of this asset-based approach brings up challenges that are discussed within the paper. The qualitative second phase emphasizes how students utilize social and cultural assets when making decisions related to career choices and potential graduate study. Results from the first-phase are used to inform the qualitative portion of the investigation by providing insights for focus group questioning routines. Emphasis in the second-phase is placed on understanding how Latina engineering students use various forms of capital to find academic success and how these forms of capital influence career and graduate study decisions.

This work in progress paper describes the trials and tribulations of the mixed-methods design process. Efforts to balance the two theoretical perspectives are discussed and initial results from the quantitative portion of the study are presented.

AU - Bruce Frederick Carroll
AU - Janice Mejía
AU - Kent J. Crippen
AU - Sheila Castro
CY - Portland, Oregon
DA - 2024/06/23
PB - ASEE Conferences
TI - Latina Engineering Student Graduate Study Decision Processes—Development and Initial Results of a Mixed-Methods Investigation
UR - https://peer.asee.org/47714
DO - 10.18260/1-2--47714
ER -