Women's Scientist Identity Formation: A Qualitative Study of an Undergraduate Research Mentoring Program

• In Event: 60.036 - Contesting STEM Cultures: Scientific Desires

Abstract

The “gender gap” in science careers is a well-known phenomenon. Quantitative studies, particularly surveys and archival work, have been the primary method of describing the problem; however, they do not reveal much about the institutional, social, and cultural forces that perpetuate it. By placing women’s self-identity at the forefront of the investigation, this qualitative, two-part study highlights the perceptions and motivations of female undergraduate science majors to expose those very forces. Through narrative analysis of testimonials on a laboratory-based science mentoring program, we gain fresh perspective on a group of students at a critical point in their science education. Follow-up interviews will then lend depth to emergent themes through member checking, triangulation, and information about education and career outcomes.

Authors

• Savannah Madley, University of Florida

• Catherine A. Emihovich, University of Florida