Can I become an excellent researcher? A qualitative study on the participation of female doctoral students in science and engineering

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Monday II)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: Gendered experiences in higher education

Proposal

This study is about the scientific research participation of female doctoral students in Science and Engineering in China’s research universities. The female doctoral group in China is special. Female doctors are the "Third Gender" besides men and women in news media and public discussion. And the academic achievement and vocational development of female doctors are unique. Some studies and observations show that women are more likely to encounter the limitations of “academic ceiling” and the exclusion of male clubs on the academic career path. Especially in the Science and Engineering community, the ratio of male to female is very different. Female doctoral students are faced with more intense competitive pressure and oppression of discipline culture. This study focuses on how they strive to become outstanding researchers in their own research activities, or how "I" can become a "winner", by making results that satisfy themselves and others. And what they experienced in the pursuit of this achievement.

Part of this study draws on Merton's theory of social anomie. According to Merton's theory, when members of society accept culturally approved goals and adopt disapproved means of achieving them, the social structure will not exert stress on individuals, and there will be no deviant behavior. When individuals are unable to achieve goals through institutional means, or are not interested in traditional goals, or even are not interested in either traditional goals or institutional means. There will be Anomie.

The major source of data in this study is private interviews. Seven senior female doctoral students of science and engineering in the research university were invited to do twice or three times semi-structured interviews. Then the collected data were encoded and analyzed.

For this paper, the research team members (including the mentor) form a common cultural goal in the same academic atmosphere and competitive environment, which refers to become an excellent scientific research worker, or more intuitively speaking, to be strong in their academic field. Participating in academic activities and related activities centered on scientific research projects (Academic paper publication is the most important indicator) is the institutionalized means to achieve the goals of “being strong”. In the process of institutionalized practice, female doctoral students and tutors from two types of interactions, “conversational” and “acceptable”, which have an impact on their mentality and behavior in scientific research participation. In addition to their own efforts, various external factors constrain the results of institutionalized practices. Teacher-student dialogue, autonomy and external constraints produce a mixed effect in the “significant pressure period “during the process, which makes the participating individuals develop an adaptive pattern in three directions: “Advocation”, “Ritualism “and “Withdraw”. The differentiation of these three directions may be vertical, which refers to the adaptation patterns of individuals in different stages of the participation process are different; or they may be horizontal, which refers to the adaptation patterns formed by different individuals are different.

Author

• chao li, Peking University