Department of Medical Social Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States of America.
Scientific Careers Research and Development Group, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2020 Jun 9;15(6):e0234259. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0234259. eCollection 2020.
Young biomedical PhD scientists are needed in a wide variety of careers. Many recent efforts have been focused on revising training approaches to help them choose and prepare for different careers. However, very little is known about how biomedical PhD students decide on and "differentiate" into careers, which limits the development of new training models. This knowledge gap also severely limits efforts to increase the representation of women and some racial/ethnic groups in academic research careers. Previous studies have used cross-sectional surveys of career interests and ratings, and have not been designed to identify career intentions. They also are limited by single-time data and response bias, having typically asked participants to recount decisions made years in the past. This report draws on annual, in-depth interviews with 147 biomedical PhD students from the start of the PhD to graduation. Qualitative content analysis methods were used to fully understand scientific development and career intentions over time. Longitudinal analysis reveals a striking level of fluidity and complexity in career intentions over time. Contrary to previous studies and the dominant narrative, data do not show generalized shifts away from academic careers. In addition to those who are consistent in this intention from the start, nearly as many students shift toward research academic careers as away from them, and only modest differences exist by gender and race/ethnicity. Thus, the dominant narrative misses the high fraction of individuals who acquire or sustain their intention to purse an academic research career during training. Efforts to increase diversity in academia must capitalize on and support those who are still considering and evolve toward an academic career. Efforts to revise research training should incorporate knowledge of the tremendous fluidity in when and how career differentiation occurs.
需要大量的年轻生物医学博士科学家从事各种职业。最近许多研究工作都集中在修改培训方法上，以帮助他们选择和准备不同的职业。然而，对于生物医学博士研究生如何决定并“区分”职业，人们知之甚少，这限制了新培训模式的发展。这一知识差距也严重限制了增加女性和某些种族/族裔群体在学术研究职业中的代表性的努力。以前的研究使用了对职业兴趣和评价的横断面调查，并且没有旨在确定职业意向。它们还受到单一时点数据和响应偏差的限制，通常要求参与者回忆多年前做出的决定。本报告借鉴了对 147 名生物医学博士研究生从博士开始到毕业的年度深入访谈。采用定性内容分析方法来全面了解科学发展和职业意向随时间的变化。纵向分析揭示了职业意向随时间的惊人变化。与之前的研究和主导叙事相反，数据并没有显示出普遍偏离学术职业的情况。除了那些从一开始就对这一意向保持一致的人之外，还有相当多的学生从学术职业转向研究学术职业，而且性别和种族/族裔之间的差异不大。因此，主导叙事忽略了在培训期间获得或维持从事学术研究职业意向的高比例个人。增加学术界多样性的努力必须利用和支持那些仍在考虑并朝着学术职业发展的人。修改研究培训的努力应纳入对职业分化何时以及如何发生的巨大流动性的认识。
