The Center for Engineering Education, The University of Texas at Austin, 2501 Speedway, Austin, TX, 78712, USA.
Department of Curriculum and Instruction, STEM Education, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA.
Ann Biomed Eng. 2021 May;49(5):1275-1287. doi: 10.1007/s10439-020-02693-9. Epub 2020 Nov 23.
This study investigates career intentions and students' engineering attitudes in BME, with a focus on gender differences. Data from n = 716 undergraduate biomedical engineering students at a large public research institution in the United States were analyzed using hierarchical agglomerative cluster analysis. Results revealed five clusters of intended post-graduation plans: Engineering Job and Graduate School, Any Job, Non-Engineering Job and Graduate School, Any Option, and Any Graduate School. Women were evenly distributed across clusters; there was no evidence of gendered career preferences. The main findings in regard to engineering attitudes reveal significant differences by cluster in interest, attainment value, utility value, and professional identity, but not in academic self-efficacy. Yet, within clusters the only gender differences were women's lower engineering academic self-efficacy, interest and professional identity compared to men. Implications and areas of future research are discussed.
本研究调查了生物医学工程专业学生的职业意向和学生对工程学的态度，重点关注性别差异。使用层次凝聚聚类分析对来自美国一所以研究为主的大型公立机构的 716 名生物医学工程专业本科生的数据进行了分析。结果显示，有五个毕业后计划的聚类群体：工程工作和研究生院、任何工作、非工程工作和研究生院、任何选择和任何研究生院。女性在各个聚类中分布均匀；没有证据表明存在性别职业偏好。关于工程学态度的主要发现表明，在兴趣、获得价值、实用价值和专业认同方面，聚类之间存在显著差异，但在学术自我效能方面没有差异。然而，在聚类中，唯一的性别差异是女性的工程学学术自我效能、兴趣和专业认同低于男性。讨论了影响和未来研究领域。
