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2014 - Perceived Gender and Racial/Ethnic Barriers to STEM Success

Attribution: Grossman, Jennifer M., & Porche, Michelle V.
Researchers: Jennifer M. GrossmanMichelle V. Porche
University Affiliation: Wellesley College
Email: jgrossma@wellesley.edu
Research Question:
Assess the variation in perceived STEM support by gender and race/ethnicity and its associations with STEM aspirations. Explore in-depth the participants' perceptions of microaggressions and support for girls and underrepresented minorities in STEM.
Published: Yes
Journal Name or Institutional Affiliation: Urban Education
Journal Entry: Vol. 49, No. 6, Pp. 698-727
Year: 2014
Findings:
  1. 45% of the interviewed participants reported micro-assaults related to STEM. 66% of the interviewed participants reported micro-insults related to STEM. 36% of the interviewed participants talked about the changing nature or racial/ethnic and gender inequity, emphasizing that barriers are less than they used to be. 34% of the interviewed participants expressed beliefs that there are no barriers to STEM success due to gender (28%) or race/ethnicity (15%).
  2. Quantitative findings showed that students perceived similar levels of societal support for girls and for underrepresented minorities. However, while perceived support for girls and women predicted science aspirations, this association was not found for underrepresented minorities.
  3. Higher science aspirations significantly predicted perceived support for girls and women in science.
  4. Analysis of interviews showed themes of macroaggressions, responses to macroaggressions, and gender- and race-based support.
  5. Findings suggest participants vary in perceptions of barriers, yet are generally optimistic about overcoming such obstacles.
Scholarship Types: Journal Article Reporting Empirical ResearchKeywords: DiscriminationHigh School ProgramsMicro-AggressionsMinoritiesRacismScienceStereotypeRegions: NortheastMethodologies: MixedAnalysis Methods: Descriptive StatisticsLogistic Regression Sampling Frame:High School Students
Sampling Types: Non-Random - PurposiveAnalysis Units: SchoolStudentData Types: Mixed-Cross Sectional
Data Description:
  • Sent a survey to all students in Grades 9 and 10 at five different high schools. The survey focused on STEM-related aspirations and experiences. Descriptive and inferential analyses were conducted using survey data from 1,024 students. The qualitative analysis was conducted with interviews from a subset of 53 survey participants. They used a multi-tier purposeful sampling strategy to recruit interview participants. They purposely sampled students to address pipeline questions.
  • DV: Perceived support for underrepresented groups included two researcher-developed items in their survey: How supportive do you think U.S. society is of girls and women who want to study or work in science? How supportive do you think U.S. society is of African Americans and Latinos who want to study or work in science? Responses were on a 4-point Likert-type scale (1 =very unsupportive to 4 =very supportive).
  • IV: Science and math self-concept is comprised of five questions about how good students consider themselves to be at science and math, for example, How good would you be at learning something new in science? Responses are on a 7-point scale (1 =not at all good, 7 =very good). Aspirations for college science, engineering, and math include three individual researcher generated items, for example, How much do you want to go to college to study science? Responses were on a 5-point scale. To create a set of dichotomous variables, each question was recoded as 1 if a student responded with a 4 (a little) or 5 (a lot), indicating a strong desire to study science, math, or engineering in college (in contrast to lack of interest indicated by responses of 1 =not at all, 2 =not much, or 3 =neutral).
  • Demographic variables included gender, race/ethnicity, nativity, maternal education (on a 5-point scale from dropout= 1 to graduate school= 5), and school site.
Theoretical Framework:
Relevance:Barriers to STEM
Archives: K-16 STEM Abstracts
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