Socialization Processes and Demographic Variables: Their Effect Upon the Gender Imbalance in Engineering Technology Education at the Associate Degree Level
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Authors
Donald, Joan W.
Issue Date
1992-03
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Associate degree , Demographic variables , Engineering education , Gender imbalance , Socialization
Alternative Title
Abstract
Two related issues motivated this study of women in educational programs leading to careers in engineering technology (ET): (1) continued low representation of women in ET despite their increased participation in other traditionally male-dominated fields; and (2) an interest in the effect of precollege home and school socialization processes upon the educational/career decisions of this nontraditional group. There is virtually no research data on this population. This study, therefore, was primarily descriptive in nature. Three groups of subjects were surveyed: (1) the entire population of women enrolled full-time in ET programs in Connecticut's five state technical colleges (n = 128); (2) a group of women enrolled full-time in the traditional programs of nursing and early childhood education in a Connecticut community college (n = 100); and (3) a group of male students, for whom ET is a traditional pursuit, enrolled full-time at one of the technical colleges (n = 100). Subjects were asked to complete an adapted version of the Lunneborg Nontraditional Career Survey and the Precollege Educational Experiences Survey the latter of which was developed for this study. The Valyo Socioeconomic Status Indicator was used for socioeconomic classification. Eight hypotheses were tested: four of which compared ET women to traditional women, and four of which compared ET women to traditional ET men. Chi-square statistics, t-tests, and an ANOVA were employed to analyze the data. Similarities and differences between the ET women and the other groups were examined. Significant differences were found in several areas including: type of high school attended; ratio of male/female teachers in high school; years of high school math/science preparation; perceptions of male/female ability differences in elementary and junior high school; perceptions of differential precollege teacher behavior based on gender; mothers' role of homemaker; and the importance of traditional male/female roles to subjects' parents. Recommendations resulting from the study were offered in the following areas: (1) the need for continued research on this long-neglected subgroup of students in technical higher education; (2) programs for the recruitment and retention of women in ET; (3) programs to address the issue of gender-bias in precollege education; and (4) the role of higher education in these processes.
Description
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Citation
J.W. Donald, "Socialization Processes and Demographic Variables: Their Effect Upon the Gender Imbalance in Engineering Technology Education at the Associate Degree Level", Ph.D. dissertation, School of Education, Univ. of Bridgeport, Bridgeport, CT, 1992.