Transcript What’s Data Got to Do with It? How to Measure Change in

What’s Data Got to Do with It?
How to Measure Change in
Academic Work Environments
Karen Stamm, Lisa Harlow, Marimer SantiagoRivas, Barbara Silver, & Helen Mederer
University of Rhode Island
Presented at the 34th Annual Meeting of the
Association for Women in Psychology
March 14, 2009, Newport, RI
Diversity in the Sciences
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Diversity is important in the pursuit of
scientific knowledge (National Science
Foundation, 2005)
However, a gender gap in the sciences
exists
Women represent only 20% of the faculty
in STEM fields – science, technology,
engineering, and math
Climate Change
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Good news – positive change is occurring
Gender gap is narrowing (Feist, 2006)
Still, STEM women face many challenges
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Stereotype threat (Steele, 1997)
“Leaky pipeline”
Accumulation of disadvantage (Valian, 1998)
Chilly climate
NSF ADVANCE Program
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ADVANCE is an initiative by the National Science
Foundation to promote the careers of women
faculty in STEM fields
The University of Rhode Island received a 5-year
ADVANCE Institutional Transformation award
At URI, the ADVANCE Program has focused on:
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Recruitment
Faculty Development
Work-Life
Climate Change
Measurement and Evaluation
Academic Work Environment Survey
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All tenure-track faculty at the University of
Rhode Island were asked to participate
The survey was distributed twice: 2004
and 2007
(M)ANOVAs were conducted with main
constructs as dependent variables and
gender as the independent variable
Academic Work Environment Survey
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Main constructs
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Climate
Career attitudes
Interpersonal/work
issues
Spouse/partner issues
Work and gender
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Mentoring
Teaching
Service
Research Productivity
Recognition
Resource satisfaction
2004 Climate Survey
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Distributed during the 2004-2005
academic year
Approximately 277 faculty (118 women,
144 men, and 9 unknown gender)
completed the survey
About 40% of all tenure-track faculty
completed the survey
2004 Climate Survey Results
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Women reported:
More interpersonal work challenges
More workplace discrimination
Delaying or not having children
Greater willingness to leave URI to
accommodate partner’s career
Endorsed a belief in combining career
and family
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Men reported:
Greater career satisfaction,
More positive work environment
Greater workplace equity
Greater departmental influence
More work-life balance
Endorsed traditional views of
gender-work roles
No Gender Differences on:
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Research Productivity
Teaching
Service
Resource Satisfaction
Recognition
2007 Climate Survey
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Revised version of 2004 climate survey
Distributed during the 2007-2008
academic year
Approximately 241 faculty (129 women,
110 men, and 2 unknown gender)
completed the survey
About 38% of tenure-track faculty
completed the survey
2007 Climate Survey Results
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Women reported:
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Higher ratings of mentoring
importance
More workplace discrimination
More work-life conflict
Delaying having children
Placing greater emphasis on a
partner’s career
Endorsed a belief in combining
work and family
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Men reported:
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Greater gender equity
Greater positive work
environment
Endorsed traditional views
of gender-work roles
No gender differences on:
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Career Satisfaction
Research Productivity
Teaching
Service
Resource Satisfaction
Recognition
Usefulness of Climate Data
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Importance of collecting social science data
Dissemination of findings
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Benchmarking
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Executive summary
College meetings
Reports on website
Recruitment, retention, and promotion of women in STEM
Use climate data in conjunction with benchmark indicators
Collection of benchmark indicators to track the ADVANCE Program
Other analysis plans: longitudinal cross-sectional data
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Unique participants (took survey in 2004 or 2007)
Repeat participants (took survey in both 2004 and 2007)
Limits of Climate Data
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Length of survey
Timeframe for measuring climate change
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How long does climate change take?
Is 5 years enough time?
Longitudinal data
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Had planned 3 surveys
Only did 2 surveys
Used the time to revise the survey
Strategies for Promoting Women in STEM
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3-level model of climate change
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Individual
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Interactional
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Institutional
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Effective climate change must target all 3 levels
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Measure variables at different levels
References
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Feist, G. J. (2006). How development and personality influence
scientific thought, interest, and achievement. Review of General
Psychology. Special Issue: The Psychology of Science. 10(2),
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163-182.
National Science Foundation. (2005). More women receive
Ph.D.s, but female senior faculty are still rare. Retrieved March
31, 2007, from
http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=104363
Steele, C. M. (1997). A threat in the air: How stereotypes shape
intellectual identity and performance. American Psychologist,
52(6), 613-629.
Valian, V. (1998). Why so slow? The advancement of women.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.