Work in Progress: Design and Preliminary Results of a Survey to Explore Relationships Between Faculty Mentoring,  Engineering Doctoral Student Psychological Safety, and Work Outcomes

Dorian Bobbett; Jeanne Sanders; Larkin Martini; Mark Vincent Huerta; Karin Jensen

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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: July 12, 2024
Conference Session: Educational Research and Methods Division (ERM) Technical Session 20
Tagged Division: Educational Research and Methods Division (ERM)
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/48345

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Paper Authors

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Dorian Bobbett University of Michigan

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Dorian is a 1st-year Engineering Education Research Ph.D. student at the University of Michigan. She received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in May 2023. Dorian currently works with Dr. Karin Jensen at the University of Michigan on projects related to mental-health and well being and mentoring at the graduate student level. She was previously involved in Engineering Education Research at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln under the supervision of Dr. Grace Panther and Dr. Heidi Diefes-Dux on projects related to faculty development and adaptability.

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Jeanne Sanders University of Michigan orcid.org/0000-0002-8865-5444

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Jeanne Sanders (she/her/hers) is a researcher in Engineering Education. She graduated with her Ph.D from North Carolina State University in the Fall of 2020. She currently works as a researcher at the University of Michigan.

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Larkin Martini Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University orcid.org/0000-0001-7549-7144

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Larkin Martini is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech. She received her BS in Geological Engineering and MS in Humanitarian Engineering and Science from Colorado School of Mines. Her research interests include neurodivergence in engineering, corporate social responsibility, and creative pedagogy.

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Mark Vincent Huerta Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University orcid.org/0000-0003-2962-0724

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Mark Huerta is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Engineering Education at Virginia Tech. He earned his PhD in Engineering Education Systems & Design at Arizona State University and has a BS/MS in Biomedical Engineering. His research focuses on exploring and understanding engineering learning environments. He harnesses these insights to propose solutions that encourage the creation of safe and inclusive educational environments conducive to learning, professional development, and innovation. His research interests include graduate student mentorship, faculty development, mental health and well-being, teamwork and group dynamics, and the design of project-based learning classes.

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Karin Jensen University of Michigan orcid.org/0000-0001-9456-5042

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Karin Jensen, Ph.D. (she/her) is an assistant professor in biomedical engineering and engineering education research at the University of Michigan. Her research interests include mental health and wellness, engineering student career pathways, and engagement of engineering faculty in engineering education research.

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Abstract

A psychologically safe environment is characterized by people who feel safe to voice ideas and concerns, willingly seek feedback, have positive intentions to one another, engage in constructive confrontation, and feel safe to take risks and experiment. Outside of academia, psychological safety has been shown to impact creativity, work performance, and work engagement. In academic research environments, faculty have a major leadership role in cultivating a psychologically safe environment amongst their academic research teams. Effective graduate student mentoring, which includes both career and psychosocial support, is critical to the development and retention of talented engineers in the US workforce. There is a need to better understand how engineering departments can cultivate more inclusive, psychologically safe environments in which graduate students feel safe to engage in interpersonal risk-taking, especially in research settings.

Guided by the Conservation of Resources theory, this project aims to address the following research question: What are the relationships between faculty advisor mentoring, doctoral student psychological safety, and the subsequent positive and negative outcomes for doctoral students? This work in progress paper presents the first quantitative phase of an explanatory mixed methods research design within the overarching project. The quantitative phase will address the following research aims: 1) Identify relationships between mentorship, psychological safety, and engineering doctoral student mental health, 2) Identify mentoring competencies that are predictive of research group psychological safety, and 3) Identify how different demographics experience mentoring and psychological safety in their research groups.

Researchers developed a survey consisting of five pre-existing scales, four open-ended questions, and demographics questions. The scales include dyadic and team psychological safety, mentoring competency, mental health and well-being, and job stress. The survey was reviewed by graduate students outside of the participant pool at multiple institutions as well as an external advisory board panel and revised to improve clarity and ensure the selection of appropriate subscales.

The survey will be administered via Qualtrics. Graduate students who have been enrolled in their doctoral program for at least one year and currently have a doctoral research advisor will be recruited to participate in the survey at four public, research-intensive institutions. The planned target sample size is 200-300 graduate students.

This paper will present the design of the survey and preliminary survey results. As the first part of a larger mixed-methods study, the survey responses provide insight into graduate level engineering education and how doctoral students can be better supported.

Citation
Format

Bobbett, D., & Sanders, J., & Martini, L., & Huerta, M. V., & Jensen, K. (2024, June), Work in Progress: Design and Preliminary Results of a Survey to Explore Relationships Between Faculty Mentoring, Engineering Doctoral Student Psychological Safety, and Work Outcomes Paper presented at 2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Portland, Oregon. https://peer.asee.org/48345

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - A psychologically safe environment is characterized by people who feel safe to voice ideas and concerns, willingly seek feedback, have positive intentions to one another, engage in constructive confrontation, and feel safe to take risks and experiment. Outside of academia, psychological safety has been shown to impact creativity, work performance, and work engagement. In academic research environments, faculty have a major leadership role in cultivating a psychologically safe environment amongst their academic research teams. Effective graduate student mentoring, which includes both career and psychosocial support, is critical to the development and retention of talented engineers in the US workforce. There is a need to better understand how engineering departments can cultivate more inclusive, psychologically safe environments in which graduate students feel safe to engage in interpersonal risk-taking, especially in research settings. 

Guided by the Conservation of Resources theory, this project aims to address the following research question: What are the relationships between faculty advisor mentoring, doctoral student psychological safety, and the subsequent positive and negative outcomes for doctoral students? This work in progress paper presents the first quantitative phase of an explanatory mixed methods research design within the overarching project. The quantitative phase will address the following research aims: 1) Identify relationships between mentorship, psychological safety, and engineering doctoral student mental health, 2) Identify mentoring competencies that are predictive of research group psychological safety, and 3) Identify how different demographics experience mentoring and psychological safety in their research groups.

Researchers developed a survey consisting of five pre-existing scales, four open-ended questions, and demographics questions. The scales include dyadic and team psychological safety, mentoring competency, mental health and well-being, and job stress. The survey was reviewed by graduate students outside of the participant pool at multiple institutions as well as an external advisory board panel and revised to improve clarity and ensure the selection of appropriate subscales.

The survey will be administered via Qualtrics. Graduate students who have been enrolled in their doctoral program for at least one year and currently have a doctoral research advisor will be recruited to participate in the survey at four public, research-intensive institutions. The planned target sample size is 200-300 graduate students. 

This paper will present the design of the survey and preliminary survey results. As the first part of a larger mixed-methods study, the survey responses provide insight into graduate level engineering education and how doctoral students can be better supported. 

AU  - Dorian Bobbett
AU  - Jeanne Sanders
AU  - Larkin Martini
AU  - Mark Vincent Huerta
AU  - Karin Jensen
CY  - Portland, Oregon
DA  - 2024/06/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Work in Progress: Design and Preliminary Results of a Survey to Explore Relationships Between Faculty Mentoring,  Engineering Doctoral Student Psychological Safety, and Work Outcomes
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/48345
ER  -