2013 - Examining the Tracks that Cause Derailment: Institutional Contexts and Engineering Degree Attainments

Attribution: Hughes, Bryce E., Garibay, Juan C., Hurtado, Sylvia, & Eagan, Kevin
Researchers: Bryce E. HughesJuan C. GaribayKevin EaganSylvia Hurtado
University Affiliation: Montana State University; University of California, Los Angeles
Email: Bryce.Hughes@montana.edu
Research Question:
1) What factors contribute to completing an engineering degree within five years? 2) What factors contribute to students switching out of the engineering program?
Published: Yes
Journal Name or Institutional Affiliation: N/A
Journal Entry: N/A
Year: 2013
Findings:
  1. Women are more likely than men to switch out of engineering and complete a degree in another field.
  2. No significant differences for race/ethnicity or income on switching out of engineering program.
  3. Students with a higher sense of STEM identity are more likely to complete an engineering degree.
  4. Native American, Latinos, and Women are less likely to complete an engineering degree within five years.
  5. Students from low income backgrounds are less likely to complete an engineering degree within five years while students from high-middle income backgrounds are more likely.
  6. Students that reported a higher frequency of socializing with others of different racial or ethnic backgrounds during their pre-college experiences were less likely to complete an engineering degree.
  7. Authors found that several institutional characteristics significantly influenced the likelihood of engineering degree completion. Additionally, results show that the individual practices of faculty can aggregate into an institutional influence on engineering persistence.
  8. Findings do not demonstrate that participating in undergraduate research directly improves an engineering aspirant’s chances of completing an engineering degree, but that encouraging more faculty to engage in this activity can benefit students in indirect ways.
Scholarship Types: Unpublished Research (Paper at Conference)Keywords: Academic AchievementContextEngineeringIdentityInstitutional FactorsRetentionSTEMRegions: NationalMethodologies: QuantitativeResearch Designs: Secondary Survey DataAnalysis Methods: Descriptive StatisticsMultinomial HGLM Sampling Frame:College Students
Sampling Types: Nationally RepresentativeAnalysis Units: CollegeStudentData Types: Quantitative-Longitudinal
Data Description:
  • This study utilizes Bronfenbrenner’s theory of ecology which organizes a person’s environment into a series of nested systems in which people interact, namely microsystems, mesosystems, and macrosystems. Conceptualizing the college environment as a nested series of microsystems, mesosystems, and macrosystems, the authors identified factors of interest within each of these environments to examine how they may affect engineering degree completion.
  • Baseline sample came from the 2004 Freshman Survey. They collected degree and enrollment data for the baseline sample from the National Student Clearinghouse. This merging resulted in a sample of 16,298 students in 305 four-year colleges. To supplement the student-level data, they incorporated institutional data from the 2011 Best Practices Survey and the 2007 and 2010 CIRP Faculty Surveys, and the Integrated Post-secondary Educational Data System. The combination of these data sets resulted in a sample of 15, 913 engineering aspirants across 270 four-year colleges and universities.
  • The dependent variables were completing a bachelor’s degree within a 5-year degree in engineering, in a non-engineering field, or had not completed a degree within 5 years.
  • The analyses accounted for several student-level independent variables, including demographic characteristics, prior academic preparation, educational and career aspirations, and pre-college experiences. Other demographic variables included gender, income, mother’s education level, whether either parent worked in an engineering occupation, and whether the student is a native English speaker.
  • The authors included several high school experiences in the model to examine the relationship between engineering completion and the frequency with which students felt overwhelmed by all they had to do, socialized with a student from a different racial or ethnic group, the hours per week they spent studying or doing homework in high school, and whether the student participated in a pre-college summer research program.
  • The analyses also accounted for a number of institutional characteristics (institutional type, selectivity, and control). The authors also examined a set of aspirations and expectations students had upon enrolling in college. The authors included whether they expected to transfer to another institution as an indicator of initial student commitment. Additionally, the model accounted for two constructs representing students’ academic self-concept and social self-concept at college entry, which were developed using Item Response Theory techniques.
  • To provide information about how completion in STEM may be influenced by the faculty campus context, the authors aggregated several variables from the 2010 and 2007 CIRP Faculty Survey. Given the importance of authentic discovery experiences in college, the authors examined the relationship between engineering completion and the percentage of STEM faculty who involve undergraduate in their research. Additionally, the authors considered aggregate STEM faculty pedagogical practices, including the proportion of STEM faculty who grade on a curve and faculty’s use of student-centered pedagogy.
  • From the BPS survey, the authors included four items in the model representing the extent to which institutions offered undergraduate research opportunities to all freshmen, provided targeted financial aid to STEM students, offered internships and co-ops to students, administered high school STEM outreach programs, and provided research opportunities to all undergraduates. To capture the peer environment, using the student data, the authors created a measure representing the proportion of students in STEM aspiring to a health professional degree.
Theoretical Framework:
Relevance:STEM Persistence and Retention
Archives: K-16 STEM Abstracts