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2016 - Characteristics of US Students That Pursued a STEM Major and Factors That Predicted Their Persistence in Degree Completion

Attribution: Mau, Wei-Cheng J.
Researchers: Wei-Cheng J. Mau
University Affiliation: Wichita State University
Email: joseph.mau@wichita.edu
Research Question:
1) What are the characteristics of students' who declared a STEM major? 2)What are the characteristics of students who completed a STEM major? 3)What factors influence students who persisted to complete a STEM major?
Published: Yes
Journal Name or Institutional Affiliation:
Journal Entry: Vol. 4, No. 6, Pp. 1495-1500
Year: 2016
Findings:

– Female and minority students, except for Asian American students, were less likely than male or White students to declare a STEM major.
– Among those who completed a STEM major, a smaller percentage of female and minority students completed their degree in 5 years than their counterparts.
– White male students, high school GPA, college GPA, and first year college credit hours earned significantly predicted persistence in completion of a STEM major, whereas first time college students, transfer students, and students took remediation courses were less likely to persist.
– Older students are less likely than younger student to persist
– Students who had earned more course credits were more likely to persist than those who earned fewer course credits.
– Of all variables selected in the model, high school GPA appears to be the strongest predictor of persistence in completion of a STEM major.

* Shows factors for STEM persistence.

Scholarship Types: Journal Article Reporting Empirical ResearchKeywords: Choice of MajorGenderPersistenceRaceSTEMRegions: MWMethodologies: QuantitativeResearch Designs: Administrative DataAnalysis Methods: Descriptive StatisticsLogistic Regression Sampling Frame:College Students
Sampling Types: Non-Random - PurposiveAnalysis Units: StudentData Types: Quantitative-Longitudinal
Data Description:

There were 256,978 enrolled in seven public universities in a Midwest state of the United States. This study tracked undergraduate students enrolled in 2008 through 2013. Institutional data submitted by the seven regent universities during this period were included in the analysis. Subsets of the participants (N = 71,405) were included based on the nature of the research question.

Three cluster of independent variables were included in this study:
(1) Demographic variable: Sex, race, and age when first enrolled.
(2) Pre-College Variables: High school GPA and ACT scores.
(3) College Variables: Student type (first time freshmen or transfer), Institution type, Developmental courses taken (Math, English, or Reading), First year credit hours earned, First year GPA, Final GPA, and Final credit hours earned.

The DV’s were both dichotomous variables. The first was if they declared a STEM major. The second was if a student had completed a STEM degree within five years.

 

Theoretical Framework:
Relevance:STEM Persistence and Retention
Archives: K-16 STEM Abstracts
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