New tools for examining undergraduate students' STEM stereotypes: Implications for women and other underrepresented groups

Abstract

The authors describe the scale development process for three new scales designed to measure attitudes and perceptions about scientists and offer implications for how these tools can be used on college campuses and for future research.

Queer in STEM: Workplace Experiences Reported in a National Survey of LGBTQA Individuals in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Careers

“…Despite employment shifts over the last few decades, a broad stereotype of a white, male "scientist" exists in public perception (Nassar-McMillan, Wyer, Oliver-Hoyo, & Schneider, 2011) and correspondingly rigid expectations of gender and sexuality remain in many workplaces. The underrepresentation of women and racial and ethnic minorities in many fields further contributes to narrow constructions of what characterizes a "typical" STEM professional.…”

Embodying the Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competency Movement: Voices From the Field

“…Social reform is particularly difficult when issues such as White (male) supremacy, meritocracy, and White fragility challenge the existing power structures. For example, research examining undergraduate students’ STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) stereotypes suggests that White men, as compared with women and people of color, are more likely to believe that social equality exists; moreover, women, as compared with men, are more likely to believe that things should be equal (Nassar‐McMillan, Wyer, Oliver‐Hoyo, & Schneider, 2012). Refer to Singh, Appling, and Trepal (2020) in this special issue for more information on the concepts of social equality and power and the strategies for effectively addressing them.…”

Fitting In Across STEM: Comparing Science/Math and Engineering/Technology Students' Perceptions of Their Fields and Futures

“…Responses were collected from 1,654 participants gathered across a national sample of STEM majors across 38 classrooms [38]. The current study limited the participant pool to those enrolled in STEM majors (more information on how this was determined is provided below), resulting in a sample of 1,071 participants.…”

“…The full Critical Vision Scale (referred to in the literature as the Social Equality Perceptions in Science Scale) consists of 14 items that ask students to rate their agreement to statements about equality in science (see Table A3 for full list of items) [38]. Previous exploratory factor analysis indicated a two-factor solution, in which items that ask about how equality in science should be loaded separately from those that ask about how equality is.…”

“…The Career Intentions Scale consists of 12 items that ask students how likely they are to attain various science milestones (see Table A4 for full list of items) [38]. Items were averaged, with a higher score indicating that the participant reported more interest in science training and/or careers.…”