Despite increasing demand for engineers, college engineering programs continueto lose women at higher rates than their male counterparts. Surprisingly, neither a lack of success in engineering coursework, nor a host of other academic, personality and individual background factors adequately explain these higher female exit rates. Research has suggested that the adoption of an "engineer" identity is perhaps the most important factor. Still, there are no verified explanations for how this engineer identity adoption occurs, or how it influences students' decisions to stay in or leave engineering majors. This project investigates the role peer relationships play in the formation of an engineer identity. This project uses a social network analysis approach, distinguishing between and comparing the academic and social interactions among students.
The primary research question is: do differences in the social and academic networks of male and female engineering students influence the disparate exit rate of women from engineering? To answer this question, this project measures students' academic and social networks, and then tracks their decisions regarding changing majors. The analyses include three basic components: (1) Do males and females significantly differ in their social and academic network measures? (2) Are these network measures significantly associated with change of major decisions? (3) Do the associations between network measures and change of major decisions differ significantly by sex?
This project measures students' social and academic networks via surveys administered at engineering programs at four different colleges. In addition to the data collected in the surveys, this project is associated with a longitudinal study of this cohort which will allow the integration of multiple data sources about individual and institutional characteristics and differences. Institutional data sources provide data on subsequent change of major decisions.
Broader impacts: Results from this research will help engineering schools design programs to retain female engineering students. In addition, the findings will add to an understanding of how professional identities form, how the gendering of professions persists, the sociology of higher education, and the role of peers in identity formation.
