University students’ views regarding gender in STEM studies: Design and validation of an instrument

Abstract

Differences in the representation of diversity in higher education, emphasising the gender gap in some areas, are issues addressed from different research domains. Socially, gender roles have been constructed and are also related to professions. In this context, the Social Cognitive Career Theory explores the possible causes of segregation. This segregation is evident in Europe and Spain, as indicated by the European Institute for Gender Equality. This paper describes the design and validation process of an instrument to find out what opinions university students have about higher education studies in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), according to gender. After drafting the questionnaire, it was piloted in a non-experimental quantitative design in Spain. Subsequently, a validity and reliability study was applied to validate the items and construct their dimensionality. The process was implemented using Reliability Analysis and Exploratory Factor Analysis. Also, the dimensionality consists of five scales: Gender Ideology, Perception and Self-perception, Expectations about Science, Attitudes and Interests. Based on the results, it is concluded that the opinion about STEM studies is conditioned by personal elements, such as motivations, educational background and family and social influences, such as people who judged their decision, were their references or studied STEM programs. Finally, it is essential to pay socio-educational attention to the modulating components of decisions about which higher education studies to pursue. Awareness of the factors involved in the decision helps the educational community to establish mechanisms to prevent horizontal gender segregation. The instrument designed, validated and presented in this study provides a glimpse of possible causes for the gender gap in STEM higher education.

The role and antecedents of contextual intelligence in complex decision-making environments: The case of the pharmaceutical/biotech sector

“…Despite recent evidence supporting females attaining higher grades in school subjects, we still see evidence of under-representation for females in STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) which the authors report as being multifactorial (Verdugo-Castro et al, 2022). Given this scenario, a vital research question arises as to the profiles of CI in females compared to males in light of the hybridisation required to effectively implement praxis in the fields of complex decision-making requirements.…”

Factors associated with the gender gap in the STEM sector: Comparison of theoretical and empirical concept maps and qualitative SWOT analysis

“…The empirically validated instrument “Questionnaire with university students on STEM studies in Higher Education” (QSTEMHE) [ [61] , [62] , [63] ] was used to collect the data. The QSTEMHE questionnaire can be applied to study and analyse the opinion of university students from different branches of knowledge about STEM studies in higher education about the gender of the student.…”

Mentoring model in LATAM for women in stem, lessons learned from design to implementation

“…According to a recent study conducted by UNESCO (2020), in Latin America, the participation of women in university careers related to ICTs (Information and communication technologies programs), engineering, manufacturing and construction is around 35% and several countries exceed the world average percentage of 27% -28% [4]. This situation begins in childhood due to different factors related with self-perception, self-efficacy, support received, social standards and stereotypes [5]. The environment during the university studies can influence the desertion level, being the first year the most critical one.…”

“…It is interesting to find throughout the process of designing and implementing the mentoring program, that the awareness and empathy generated by the visibility of the long way to achieve greater participation of women in STEM areas is the driving force that guides the interest in mentoring issues [4,5,6,7]. This gap is observed in all phases of life: in professional programs, graduate programs, research areas and even in the workforce, where there is a strong demand for specialized engineers [1,2,3].…”