Date of Award

2007

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Education

First Advisor

Diane Suitt Gilleland

Abstract

The intent of the study was to investigate how women in hard (engineering, mathematics, computer science, physical science) and soft (social, psychological, life sciences) sciences differ from each other among a set of variables known to influence educational attainment and to evaluate how well Weidman's undergraduate socialization model explains higher education's influence on women in science and engineering fields. Using the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (1996-2001), descriptive discriminant analysis and multivariate analysis of variance were used to identify differences among the women, and structural equation modeling was used to evaluate Weidman's model. Results indicated that women who went into the hard sciences primarily had higher SAT math scores, and to a lesser degree, had higher high school mathematics grades, higher cumulative grade point average upon entering college, more contact with faculty, tended to live off campus, were enrolled in public 4-year institutions, and received less parental support. After graduation, women in hard sciences made more money than women in soft sciences. Attempts to evaluate Weidman's model failed to produce an acceptable model of the data.

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