Phase 1: Database and Institutional Analyses
The Ohio State University & Purdue University
Database Analysis
The team sought to identify which colleges and universities in the United States have the highest numbers of WoC faculty. To accomplish this, we used the import.io tool to collect data from university websites. We mined online data from 435 departmental websites, resulting in approximately 50,000 rows of mined data that included:
- institution name
- faculty name
- faculty title
- department
- e-mail address
- office address
- faculty photograph
- faculty profile page
- notes or comments about missing information, and gender.
After completing this, we identified an average of about 4 WoC per each institution. Additionally, we found that 95.17 % (an equivalent of 414 of schools), was completely mined for the faculty contact information. Meanwhile, 60.46 % (an equivalent of 263 schools) were mined for their institutional leadership. Cumulatively, this information was used to create a database of potential study participants.
Institutional Analysis
The team also identified numerical trends in the gender and race of engineering faculty between 2005-2016. Specifically, we (1.) identified institutional factors that correlate with increasing diversity over time, and (2.) explored the relationship between the proportion of WoC faculty and WoC students in engineering. The finding of this analysis are summarized in the manuscript titled, "Diversifying Engineering: Institutional Factors and Changes in the Representation of Women of Color Faculty (2005-2016)."
Phase 2: Interviews
The Ohio State University & Vanderbilt University
The research team designed a 15-question interview protocol that sought to shed light on a WoC's professional journey and satisfaction as a faculty member. The protocol included 15 open-ended questions and was based on a case study interview approach. Thus far in the data collection process, 56 women have been interviewed (the target number of participants is n=65). All participant responses are de-identified and analyzed using Crenshaw's (1991) intersectionality framework.
Phase 3: National Survey of Women Engineering Faculty
The Ohio State University
The research team developed a survey to explore the perspectives of engineering faculty in the US about ways that gender, race, ethnicity, and class affect their persistence in the academy. This instrument, titled "Persistence of Engineers in the Academy Survey (PEAS)" examines 10 different constructs and includes 63 items. The initial pilot test of the survey was launched in fall 2018, and a follow up, expanded pilot was launched in early 2019. The final survey will be distributed in April 2019.