This project will investigate the educational trajectories and career plans of a subpopulation that is a growing segment of the U.S. workforce. This project will focus on graduate and professional degree education given their unique role in facilitating entry into the U.S. labor market. Part 1 of the project will be the compilation of a national level dataset on the educational trajectories and career plans of graduate and professional students from this subpopulation. Part 2 will be a comparison of the experiences of students across different generational groups and statuses. The project will investigate the factors that affect students’ ability to succeed in U.S. graduate and professional degree programs and affect their future career plans. The project also will establish a student research project lab to train students from multiple institutions on survey and interview-based approaches. This project is jointly funded by the Sociology Program, the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), and the Science of Broadening Participation.
This project will use an explanatory sequential mixed methods approach consisting of an online survey followed by interviews with survey respondents. First, graduate and professional degree students nationally will be asked to complete an online survey regarding their educational experiences and future career plans. Survey questions will focus on a range of topics including student experiences pertaining to institutions attended, sources of financial and non-financial support utilized, and future planning. Second, a portion of the online survey takers will be interviewed, which will provide an important opportunity for project participants to elaborate on their answers and the process through which they came to respond as they did.
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.
