Qualitative Study of Women’s Personal Experiences of Retention and Attrition in Undergraduate Engineering Programs

Abstract

Women’s persistent underrepresentation in engineering fields is a national priority. In the past two decades, the proportion of women earning degrees in engineering has increased from 18% to 21%. This work-in-progress paper presents the preliminary longitudinal mixed-methods analysis and results from a study designed to advance the understanding of women’s experiences in undergraduate engineering at a mid-size university. This research, in its third year, focuses on qualitative analysis examining personal experiences as they coalesce with gender, sex, race, and other identifying factors. These compiled experiences provide insight into how the identifying factors influence educational outcomes as aligned with our sociocultural understanding of undergraduate engineering education. Qualitative methodology in the form of ethnographic interviews and focus groups were used to examine a racially diverse sample of ten cohorts of undergraduate women in engineering programs, in addition to currently enrolled students. The aim of this portion of the project is to elucidate the cultural ecosystem of undergraduate engineering education and its relation to women’s achievement motivation and to complicate the discourse on identity in engineering education with an examination of structural modes of power, privilege, and inequality within the discipline. This research seeks to answer: What personal experiences in engineering cohorts are related to retention and graduation among undergraduate women, and what experiences may be ubiquitous in these cohorts? Findings from this research pertain to various majors (mechanical, chemical, or computer engineering), touching on first-hand experiences of prejudice, stereotyping, discrimination, mentorship, growth, and opportunity. The final phase of the project completes comparative analysis of data collected through mixed methods.