IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/sagope/v11y2021i4p21582440211060832.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Graduate Students’ Identification With Science: Differences by Demographics, Experiences, and Discipline

Author

Listed:
  • Christopher P. Scheitle
  • Ellory Dabbs
  • Riley Darragh

Abstract

Research examining high school and undergraduate students has demonstrated the importance of identity formation for students’ confidence, retention, and aspirations in science. While we know some of the key predictors of science identity formation among these populations, relatively little work has looked at these issues among graduate students. The study presented here utilizes data from a survey of over 1,300 graduate students in the United States in five disciplines: biology, chemistry, physics, psychology, and sociology. A structural equation model is estimated to assess the demographic, experiential, and disciplinary correlates of graduate student identification with science and, separately, identification with their discipline. The analysis finds that, relative to men, women have weaker identification with science but do not differ in the strength of their identification with their discipline. Experiences, such as the quality of students’ relationship with their advisor and publishing research, are positively associated with the strength of their science and disciplinary identity. Students in psychology and sociology have weaker identification with science relative to biology students, while sociology students also have weaker identification with their discipline.

Suggested Citation

  • Christopher P. Scheitle & Ellory Dabbs & Riley Darragh, 2021. "Graduate Students’ Identification With Science: Differences by Demographics, Experiences, and Discipline," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(4), pages 21582440211, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:11:y:2021:i:4:p:21582440211060832
    DOI: 10.1177/21582440211060832
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21582440211060832
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/21582440211060832?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michał Krawczyk, 2017. "Are all researchers male? Gender misattributions in citations," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 110(3), pages 1397-1402, March.
    2. Paul R Hernandez & Brittany Bloodhart & Rebecca T Barnes & Amanda S Adams & Sandra M Clinton & Ilana Pollack & Elaine Godfrey & Melissa Burt & Emily V Fischer, 2017. "Promoting professional identity, motivation, and persistence: Benefits of an informal mentoring program for female undergraduate students," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(11), pages 1-16, November.
    3. Heather Thiry & Sandra L. Laursen & Anne-Barrie Hunter, 2011. "What Experiences Help Students Become Scientists? A Comparative Study of Research and other Sources of Personal and Professional Gains for STEM Undergraduates," The Journal of Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 82(4), pages 357-388, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Southwell, Kenona & Topp, David & McCall, Christine & Ludiker, Keara & Runco, Lauren & MacDermid Wadsworth, Shelley, 2022. "Focus Forward Fellowship: Evaluation of a program for women student service members and veterans," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    2. Hani Mansour & Daniel I. Rees & Bryson M. Rintala & Nathan N. Wozny, 2022. "The Effects of Professor Gender on the Postgraduation Outcomes of Female Students," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 75(3), pages 693-715, May.
    3. Gairal-Casadó, Regina & Garcia-Yeste, Carme & Novo-Molinero, Maria Teresa & Salvadó-Belarta, Zoel, 2019. "Out of school learning scientific workshops: Stimulating institutionalized Adolescents' educational aspirations," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 116-126.
    4. Tang-Ping Chen & Ku-Yuan Lee & Pegdwende Moise Kabre & Chi-Ming Hsieh, 2020. "Impacts of Educational Agritourism on Students’ Future Career Intentions: Evidence from Agricultural Exchange Programs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-19, November.
    5. Christopher Felege & Rebecca Romsdahl & Joshua Hunter & Cheryl Hunter & Susan Ellis-Felege, 2019. "Immersive field experiences lead to higher-level learning and translational impacts on students," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 9(3), pages 286-296, September.
    6. Paul R Hernandez & Brittany Bloodhart & Rebecca T Barnes & Amanda S Adams & Sandra M Clinton & Ilana Pollack & Elaine Godfrey & Melissa Burt & Emily V Fischer, 2017. "Promoting professional identity, motivation, and persistence: Benefits of an informal mentoring program for female undergraduate students," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(11), pages 1-16, November.
    7. Katelyn M Cooper & Logan E Gin & Barierane Akeeh & Carolyn E Clark & Joshua S Hunter & Travis B Roderick & Deanna B Elliott & Luis A Gutierrez & Rebecca M Mello & Leilani D Pfeiffer & Rachel A Scott &, 2019. "Factors that predict life sciences student persistence in undergraduate research experiences," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(8), pages 1-30, August.
    8. Lisa Robertson & Elizabeth Porter & M. Alex Smith & Shoshanah Jacobs, 2021. "Evidence-Based Course Modification to Support Learner-Centered and Student-Driven Teaching in A Pandemic: Leveraging Digital and Physical Space for Accessible, Equitable, and Motivating Experiential L," International Journal of Higher Education, Sciedu Press, vol. 10(7), pages 1-96, September.
    9. Aleksandra Cislak & Magdalena Formanowicz & Tamar Saguy, 2018. "Bias against research on gender bias," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 115(1), pages 189-200, April.
    10. Rishita Bhatt & Bernadette West & Sunita Chaudhary, 2020. "Biomedical career enrichment programs: Exploring women and minority participants’ motivators and outcomes," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(2), pages 1-27, February.
    11. Samantha Nix & Lara Perez-Felkner, 2019. "Difficulty Orientations, Gender, and Race/Ethnicity: An Intersectional Analysis of Pathways to STEM Degrees," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-29, January.
    12. Sarah W Davies & Hollie M Putnam & Tracy Ainsworth & Julia K Baum & Colleen B Bove & Sarah C Crosby & Isabelle M Côté & Anne Duplouy & Robinson W Fulweiler & Alyssa J Griffin & Torrance C Hanley & Tes, 2021. "Promoting inclusive metrics of success and impact to dismantle a discriminatory reward system in science," PLOS Biology, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(6), pages 1-15, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:sagope:v:11:y:2021:i:4:p:21582440211060832. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.