Finding fulfillment: women's self-efficacy beliefs and career choices in chemistry

Abstract

Research has shown that self-efficacy beliefs are effective predictors of academic major and career choices in middle school, high school, and early college populations. There is little understanding, however, of how these beliefs develop and what influence they have on academic and career choices in women at the advanced undergraduate and graduate levels. This qualitative study identified key factors that contributed to women chemists' academic and career decisions. Participants completed a chemistry self-efficacy survey and participated in three in-depth interviews. The results indicated that the participants' efficacy beliefs were positively influenced primarily by mastery experiences and social support and were undermined by inaccurate social comparisons. Efficacy beliefs were found to help steer them towards different careers, but ultimately value judgments were more influential in directing their career choice. These women did not value the outcomes of chemistry research or find scientific research intrinsically fulfilling, which led them to choose careers that they felt more directly benefitted humanity. Suggestions for showing the value of chemistry research in the classroom and the laboratory are offered.

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Introduction

Women and science

With national efforts to promote diversity and increase the number of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, researchers and educators have worked to develop an understanding of why women continue to be under-represented. Low levels of self-efficacy beliefs among women pertaining to science and chemistry have been implicated in contributing to the limited number of women earning post-graduate degrees and holding academic appointments in chemistry (Chemers et al., 2001; Hackett, 1985; Lent et al., 1991; Multon et al., 1991; Nauta et al., 1998). At this point, however, a qualitative understanding of the career decision-making process of women earning degrees in chemistry is necessary to understand why so many women are leaving the field and to devise effective strategies to enhance retention. This study looked at the experiences of women in chemistry and how their self-efficacy beliefs, career decisions, and perceptions have been shaped by their experiences.

The National Science Foundation in the United States (2011) reported, in 2008, that 49.9% of the graduates with a bachelor's degree in chemistry were females. Women earned 46.3% of the master's degrees in chemistry, but only 36.1% of chemistry doctorates were awarded to women in 2008. The trend worsens at the postdoctoral level, where only 23.6% of fellowship recipients in chemistry were women. According to the National Academies (2009), women comprise 18% of the applicant pool for chemistry positions at large research universities in the United States. It is clear that women are earning chemistry degrees at all educational levels, but there are significant declines at each step in educational attainment. The shortage of women in chemistry and other STEM fields at all educational levels limits potential discoveries and insights by excluding novel and unique viewpoints that arise from varied experiences in society (Kuhn, 1996; Belenky et al., 1986; Harding, 2007; Page, 2007).

There has been a belief in a pipeline model for over two decades, which claimed that increasing the input at the beginning of the pipeline – in elementary and middle schools – would lead to increased output – of doctorates and women faculty. This model assumed that it was just a matter of waiting for women to make it through the pipeline; the continued limited number of women in STEM fields indicates this did not occur (see historical data available from the National Science Foundation). Women are systematically taking themselves off of this path, especially at the transition from undergraduate degree to doctorate and at the transition from doctorate to academic researcher.

Theoretical framework

Career choices for women are influenced by a number of factors. This study into self-efficacy beliefs and career choice was guided by self-efficacy, social constructivism, and standpoint feminism. Self-efficacy beliefs play a central role in academic and career success. Self-efficacy beliefs are defined as a person's expectation for success on a given task (Bandura, 1977; 1993; 1997; Bandura and Schunk, 1981). They are directly related to a person's evaluation of his or her abilities and how well those abilities can be turned into useful action to accomplish an objective. Self-efficacy is highly specific towards a goal or task, unlike self-confidence or self-concept, which describe more generalized feelings of ability, competence, or identity. Self-efficacy beliefs encompass four constructs: (1) enactive mastery experiences, (2) vicarious experiences, (3) verbal and social persuasions, and (4) physiological and affective states. Mastery experiences refer to tasks that have already been successfully completed. Vicarious experiences describe observations of others, particularly peers. Verbal and social persuasions are the feedback received from others, either spoken or unspoken. Physiological and affective states refer to how a person is feeling during a task, such as contentment or anxiety.

Most self-efficacy belief research, as applied to academic success, utilizes quantitative measures, particularly the landmark papers in the field (see: Multon et al., 1991; Hackett, 1985; Lent et al., 1991; Chemers et al., 2001). This research has demonstrated that self-efficacy is a potent predictor of academic achievement and attainment of career goals. If an individual believes he or she will be successful, he or she is more likely to pursue that task or activity than a task that he or she expects to fail at. Thus, a person's self-efficacy beliefs can help predict the choices he or she will make with regards to academic coursework and degree program, as well as career.

One's social interactions and support network affect self-efficacy. Social constructivism (Palincsar, 1998; Prawat and Floden, 1994) examines how social interactions (e.g. peers and society) influence the construction of self-efficacy beliefs. Social constructivism has been closely associated with Bandura’s (1986, 1997) social cognitive theory and self-efficacy theory. The central tenet of social constructivism is that meaning and knowledge are created through interactions with others and the environment within a culture. The learning environment – as well as the learners' social context – direct how knowledge is constructed and what meaning is developed. The interactions with peers help individuals construct self-efficacy beliefs and feelings of competence, but can also have a converse effect as a result of negative, ability-related social comparisons (Ames, 1992; Meece, 1991; Schunk, 1991).

When examining self-efficacy beliefs in women, incorporating standpoint feminism into the research design offers a more comprehensive understanding of what influences their career choices. Standpoint feminism seeks to understand women as individuals and as a group (Harding, 2007; Brooks, 2007). It focuses on the process of knowledge production from women's perspectives, particularly within male-dominated institutions such as universities. The goal of feminist research is to create social change by generating knowledge and providing a voice for women (Reinharz, 1992). Standpoint feminism builds upon the epistemological relativism of Kuhn (1996), claiming that knowledge is socially and historically situated and constructed. Feminism seeks to situate and understand science within society by examining the participants, the epistemology, the methods, and the teaching of science. It challenges conventional knowledge and systems while producing knowledge and providing resources for women.

Research questions

This qualitative study examined the role that self-efficacy beliefs play in career decision-making for women earning degrees in chemistry, as well as other factors that play a role in career decision-making for these women, at the transitions from undergraduate to graduate student and from graduate student to practicing chemist. This study was designed to investigate the following research questions:

• How do the self-efficacy beliefs of women in chemistry develop and contribute to their career and education decisions?

• What other non-self-efficacy related factors influence the career and education decisions of women in chemistry?

Methodology

Participants

Participants (N = 6; 5 Caucasian, 1 Asian American) were female students enrolled as chemistry undergraduates (N = 3) and chemistry doctoral candidates (N = 3) at a large, public, research-oriented, Midwestern university. All were less than two years from the completion of their degrees. This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board for Human Subjects Protection at the participating academic institution. Participation in this study was entirely voluntary and conformed with standard informed consent protocols. Data collection consisted of demographic information gathered through use of a short survey, a chemistry self-efficacy beliefs instrument (both of which were completed during Interview 1), and three semi-structured interviews.

Questionnaires

Basic demographic data were collected through a short survey, including ethnic/cultural background, previous science courses taken and performance in them, parents' occupations, socioeconomic status, and career goals. Additionally, a 10-point Likert scale to measure self-efficacy beliefs was developed using a compilation of valid and reliable survey tools (Baldwin et al., 1999; Nauta et al., 1998). The questions from these tools were adapted to generate a chemistry-specific self-efficacy survey including changing the language from “biology” or “science” to “chemistry,” not duplicating similar questions, and omitting items not relevant to the research questions. This questionnaire was not used as a definitive measure of a participant's self-efficacy beliefs; rather, it was interpreted as a general indicator, and as such, was used during the interviews to draw out further information about the participant's beliefs. It allowed the researcher to ask interview questions specifically targeted at items in the survey that participants scored unusually high or low compared to other responses. This was one way to externalize self-efficacy beliefs that are often implicit and deeply embedded.

Interviews

This study used participatory, collaborative interview methods as a means to explore the participants' views and understand the participants' lives. Participants took part in three, one-hour semi-structured interviews, scheduled at different times with approximately one month between each meeting. The interviews were designed to be conversational and were conducted in a safe, non-threatening office used solely for interviews. All interviews were digitally recorded and then transcribed. Field notes were taken during the interview to help pace the interviews and to record the researcher's initial reactions (Patton, 2002).

Interview 1 focused on the participant's current plan of study and career path. Information regarding previous career goals, science background, coursework and grades in courses was gathered, and her chemistry efficacy beliefs instrument responses were discussed. Interview 2 targeted experiences that influenced the participant's chemistry self-efficacy beliefs and career goals. This interview session individually probed the aforementioned four sources of self-efficacy beliefs, drawing out specific experiences and influences. Interview 3 delved more fully into the career decision-making process. Participants were asked to describe how they made their career decisions, what influenced them, what sort of support they had while pursuing their career goals, and how confident they were of success in their future careers.

Analysis

Data were analyzed using qualitative methods (Patton, 2002). Interviews were transcribed verbatim, reviewed by the participants for accuracy (changes were made as needed), and analyzed for emergent themes, recurring phrases, common threads, and patterns of relationships. The latter information was incorporated into a template constructed by the researcher so that the data for each participant could be clustered by theme or topic including: mastery experience, social persuasion, expectancy of success, physiological and affective state, career decision-making, or significant experiences. Relevant interview quotes and researcher notes were organized in these outlines.

The outlines were used to construct participant narratives that discussed the development of self-efficacy beliefs, the role of self-efficacy beliefs in career decision-making, and other influences on career decision-making. The constant comparative method was used to analyze the narratives and identify the most influential factors for the participants' career decision-making processes (Miles and Huberman, 1994). Each narrative was reviewed individually to identify key or critical experiences. These individual findings were then compared across cases to develop assertions about what influenced the self-efficacy beliefs and career decisions of these women in chemistry.

Results

The sample was demographically representative of most chemistry students at this university and nationally (National Science Foundation, 2011). All had middle- to upper-middle-class backgrounds. An overview of the participants, using their pseudonyms, is shown in Table 1. The quotes presented in this section are representative of the overall themes generated from this data set. Although there are no quotes from Shannon, data from her interviews were collected, analyzed, and used to generate the themes presented here.

Table 1 Participant pseudonyms and overview

Name	Program	Major/Area of study	Where in program	Career goal
Trista	Graduate	Physical Chemistry	Final year	Plastic surgeon
Melanie	Graduate	Chemical and Engineering Education	Final year	Professor at a small liberal arts school
Jenna	Graduate	Inorganic Chemistry	2 years from graduation	Professor at a small liberal arts school
Erica	Undergraduate	Chemistry	Final year	Research professor of exercise physiology
Anne	Undergraduate	Chemistry	Final year	Undecided, possibly industry
Shannon	Undergraduate	Chemistry, Teacher Education	2 years from graduation	Rural high school chemistry teacher

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Role of self-efficacy beliefs

Feeling confident in their chemistry content knowledge, having positive research experiences, and doing well in classes were the strongest influences on the participants' self-efficacy beliefs. Support, from family and friends, was critical in retention and persistence during challenging and trying times. The participants had mastery experiences and a supportive social network to bolster their self-efficacy beliefs, although they were plagued by doubts stemming from peer comparisons. Uninformed social comparisons had a negative impact on self-efficacy beliefs. The participants reported feeling inadequate when compared to peers or thought other students were more qualified and better performers than they were, although they had no evidence to suggest this.

The mastery component of efficacy beliefs played a role in steering participants towards different careers. The participants needed to feel they could be successful in their future careers before investing time and effort into pursuing those careers. For Jenna (graduate) and Trista (graduate), research-related frustrations made them doubt their abilities as researchers. At the same time, positive teaching experiences for all three graduate students made them believe they were better teachers than researchers. This was clearly seen with Jenna (graduate), who had low efficacy beliefs about herself as a chemical researcher and high efficacy beliefs regarding her ability as an educator. When talking about research she said,

“There's been many times where I feel like a failure as a scientist because the chemistry isn't doing what I'd like it to do…which is very hard because I have to tell myself, it's not me, it's the science, and I can't really, I can't force the reactivity of a compound to be something other than what it wants to be. I mean, it's a molecule, it's gonna do what it wants to do, and if it's not what I expect then I feel like I'm failing somewhat, because it was my original hypothesis or my original goal.”

Conversely, when referring to feedback from students she had taught, she said,

“I've had several students that have told me, you know, you're the best TA [teaching assistant] I've had so far. I mean, yeah, they're freshman, they don't know. But, you know, I had a couple of students last semester who were…freshman but they were second semester, so they've already had several TAs and I had a few comments that said, you know, you're the best TA I've had and…that just makes me feel good and realize that you know, oh I can, I can do this.”

Unlike Jenna, Melanie (graduate) and Erica (undergraduate) had very positive and successful research experiences. While these mastery experiences bolstered their self-efficacy beliefs, these experiences were not enough to motivate them to pursue academic research in chemistry as a career. Melanie was more interested in the teaching side of academics, while Erica was planning to pursue an academic career in physiology, not chemistry. Having positive self-efficacy beliefs regarding their researcher abilities was not enough to entice them to choose a chemistry research career. Melanie explained her experiences, saying,

“If we are talking about my research abilities, it's just been the fact that I've sort of had this Cinderella research career and, like I said, I submitted a journal article and they were like, “yeah, we'll publish it,” or um, you know, I submitted this postdoctoral proposal and they said, “yeah, we'll fund you,” and so it's just always, doors have just been opening and so that sort of makes me confident that I'm doing good stuff and have good abilities, and um, it has sort of validated it for me and increased my confidence in myself.”

Erica found that participating in undergraduate research immensely increased her confidence in her ability to be a professor. She said, “…I was just so impressed with, look at these people, they're published and they're authors and they do great things and they run these labs, and I was kind of like, oh, I kind of do these things, and now I'm published.” The fact that she had done some of the things professors had to do, like developing projects and publishing papers, made her feel like she could be successful in an academic research career, although in physiology rather than chemistry.

Social support helped participants outweigh the negative experiences and doubts these women had while pursuing their chemistry degrees. All participants reported periods where they considered leaving chemistry or pursuing other career options. Many of their doubts were fueled by the feeling that their peers were smarter or more capable than they were. Their peer comparisons made them question their abilities and think poorly of themselves. Consistently, they undervalued themselves and felt unqualified. Melanie (graduate) exemplified this when she said,

“…every time I go to teach, like especially when I was teaching the actual lecture for the chemical engineering [course], I know that I know the material, I mean I have a degree in chemical engineering and I've done a bunch of graduate courses in chemical engineering, but I still had this horrible fear that I didn't understand the material well enough and that the students were going to like catch me, you know, and some question that I didn't know, which I know is bound to happen and it's not the end of the world, 'cause you can just tell them, “I'll get back to you on that,” but it's still like, I haven't had any experiences like that that have actually made me doubt my abilities but I still have this like internal fear that it's going to happen eventually.”

Despite numerous successful mastery experiences, participants made comments not solicited by the researcher indicating they had fooled everyone into believing they were capable and were waiting for the day when they would be found out. With regards to career options, these doubts tended to be universal and did not direct their career decisions.

Role of fulfillment and personal values

Although self-efficacy beliefs played a role in career decision-making by mediating the participants' expectation of success in different careers, participants based their career choices on their values as long as they felt they could be successful. They selected careers perceived as being tangibly rewarding by allowing them to make a difference in the lives of others. Seeking a feeling of fulfillment was the primary motivator behind career choice for participants. This was described as seen in the participants' responses given below.

Anne (undergraduate) wanted her work to benefit others and to be directly related to everyday life. She said,

“…I like to apply what I know to real life, to find solutions to problems we have in the environment or problems we have with drug delivery. I'd just like to do something that's more applicable to the world and maybe help, ultimately help people through research.”

Melanie (graduate) echoed similar values when describing her previous research in chemical engineering and her current research in chemical and engineering education. She said,

“…yeah, it's advancing science and yada, yada, but…it didn't motivate me all that much, but knowing that I can, even if what I learn in my educational research can influence just the students that I ever see, that's enough for me, 'cause I feel like it's more gratifying than if I somehow make a battery faster or something. That's just not motivating for me.”

Erica (undergraduate) also compared her chemistry research to her exercise physiology research and found that the latter held more value for her. She explained,

“…I think it's just kind of like that [exercise physiology] makes me happier. It's not like I don't like the chemistry lab because I really do, but it's sometimes hard for me because I feel like I'm doing things for the sake of doing them…I'm like, why are we even doing this? Why does this matter? But kind of with exercise physiology, because it's more of an applied field, there's always more significance and there's always, even if you're pretty far away from it, you can kind of trace it back to what you're doing.”

Jenna (graduate) felt that working with people and helping students would be most rewarding for her. It was important for her to have a people-based career.

“I think that I need, in order for me to feel fulfilled in a day's worth of work, I feel like I need to be helping these other people, helping students or helping a fellow colleague or someone learn what they need to learn or get done what they need to get done. And so for me, like being able to teach undergraduate students about chemistry and the concepts…I think I need that interaction.”

The participants were looking for fulfillment in their lives through their careers. They desired meaningful careers that offered tangible rewards, and had a human impact. They did not believe a career in chemistry research at a research-intensive university would provide these self-identified requirements for a fulfilling career.

Participants believed that teaching or moving into other science fields (e.g. physiology or medicine) would offer a human connection, which they believed would be rewarding. They talked about finding their calling and how good it felt to know they were helping someone. With chemistry research, they were not certain they would be helping anyone within a reasonable time frame.

Melanie (graduate) did not want her life to be dictated by pressure to “publish or perish” or the constant stress of obtaining grant funding. She associated these issues with academic research careers.

“…I like to do my research and my teaching when it's something that I'm doing because I want to do it. But when there becomes that stress or that pressure that you know, you have to bring in x number of dollars grant money and you have to do this and you have to do that, when the pressure builds, I sort of like turn off and just run away from it.”

Trista (graduate) talked about the lack of value that chemistry research held for her. It lacked a human connection, and it also left her feeling as if she had little control over the results, both of which were unappealing.

“…I didn't realize until graduate school [that] although chemistry research is satisfying…to a certain extent, it's not very fulfilling to me. And most of the time it's like hitting your head against a wall. And like there's only so much skill you can contribute to getting the results that you want. And like most of the people I've talked to say it's seventy percent luck, thirty percent skill. I'd like to be in a career where it's more skill.”

Participants selected careers outside of chemistry research in order to satisfy their career needs that allowed for human interaction in a social and low-pressure environment.

Discussion

The findings from this study are particularly important when viewed in light of the lower number of women pursuing graduate degrees in chemistry compared to those graduating with chemistry bachelor's degrees and the low percentage of doctoral-level women in chemistry applying for academic research positions. The participants had limited mastery experiences with many of the tasks associated with pursuing a career in academic research, such as grant-writing, publishing, developing research projects, and advising junior students. Additionally, their affective response to chemistry research was not one of enjoyment or fulfillment regardless of whether they had positive or negative research experiences. They relied on peer comparisons to evaluate their progress in both coursework and research. As seen with previous research, these negative comparisons often lowered their self-efficacy beliefs and expectancy for success (Ames, 1992; Meece, 1991; Schunk, 1991). For all participants, social support networks and mastery experiences helped them complete their degree, but ultimately they had no desire to conduct academic research in chemistry as a career.

Although limited in number, it is noteworthy that none of the participants, regardless of whether their research experiences or self-efficacy beliefs regarding their abilities to conduct chemistry research were positive or negative, desired an academic career in chemistry research. Their decisions were based on the belief that academic chemistry research would not enable them to make a difference in the world through their career. Sax (1994) found that many women leave scientific research careers because they perceive a lack of human connection and helping behaviors, and switch to education or medicine. The participants in this study expressed the desire to help others through their work, yet were fairly advanced in their degree program before realizing chemistry research did not meet these needs.

If these attitudes are widely shared, it may help to explain the shortage of women earning post-baccalaureate degrees and entering academic research careers in chemistry in the United States as reported by the National Science Foundation (2011) and the National Academies (2009). While self-efficacy is an important factor in academic and career decision-making, these results suggest that there are other issues preventing women from pursuing academic research careers in chemistry, including value judgments about the outcomes of scientific research and lifestyle issues.

Mastery experiences helped direct participants towards academic majors and graduate programs, but ultimately did not determine which career they chose. Their academic and career choices were often founded on how successful and competent they felt in different areas of chemistry; however, success was not enough to motivate them to pursue academic research careers. By far, the most significant factor influencing these women's career decisions in chemistry was the value judgments they passed on different career options. It was important that the careers chosen by these women benefit others in some way along with providing a sense of fulfillment for them. It was as if they were looking for a purpose, and finding the right career was like discovering what they were meant to do. They spoke of looking for fulfillment in a career and wanting to find their life's calling.

It was important that they make a difference in the lives of others, and there was passion in their voice when they talked about wanting to have a career with a human connection and impact. By placing value on teaching and human interaction over research, these women were selecting careers that were visibly altruistic, supporting previous findings (Bridges, 1989; Brown et al., 1997; Eccles, 1987; Schulenberg et al., 1993; Weisgram and Bigler, 2006). They held the belief that chemistry research was not implicitly beneficial and would not directly help people. This research provides evidence that there is a chasm between many female students' views of chemistry research and professional researchers' views of chemistry research.

For the graduate students in particular, there seem to be issues with their understanding of the nature of science and research. They lacked a passion for research, which stemmed partly from their frustrations with the research process, as well as their belief that there is no human connection. They either were unaware or lost sight of the goals of their research projects and were frustrated by the lack of progress they saw in research. Their beliefs that their personal experiments or projects were unlikely to stand alone and change the future of human health were valid, but they didn't recognize how their work would fit into the larger body of scientific knowledge that can have beneficial effect.

Tremendous amounts of money and effort have gone into recruiting and retaining women in chemistry and other physical science fields. These qualitative findings propose that one of the major problems with retaining women in science is the belief that chemistry research has no human impact. Looking only at the quantitative self-efficacy beliefs of the participants, this aversion to research would not have been inherently obvious. There was some trepidation about being a professor at a large, research-intensive university, mostly because the participants did not have mastery experiences in that area. The primary motivator cited, however, was not a lack of confidence in their abilities, but a lack of desire. They did not believe they would enjoy working as a researcher.

Implications

In order to retain more women in the field of academic chemistry research, effort must be made to demonstrate its human impact. These data suggest that self-efficacy beliefs play a role in the career decision-making process for women earning bachelor's or doctoral degrees in chemistry, but emotional needs and the desire for personal fulfillment through one's career is driving many women to pursue other career options. A primary challenge to retaining women in chemistry therefore involves changing these negative views of chemistry research. It is important that advisors work with their students to raise their awareness about the outcomes of research projects and the potential human impact research holds. Advisors can discuss long-term outcomes for projects and incorporate graduate students into the grant-writing process to help them gain perspective on how research progresses and builds on previous findings. It is also important to establish a collaborative community within research groups so that students can see how different research projects fit together and have a source of social support when they are frustrated with research. Being apprenticed to and mentored by a more advanced graduate student can help them learn about the research process and the nature of scientific research. Graduate students need to be reminded that there are overarching goals for their project, not just the minutiae of experiments.

For undergraduate students, chemistry classes often fail to convey the possibilities chemistry holds for making a difference in the world. Classes often lack real-world relevance for students, failing to show them what is beyond Lewis structures, wave functions, and oxidation–reduction reactions. Instructors can help improve student interest in chemistry by linking it to the real world in the classroom, particularly showing the implications for human health. Tying course content into current events and other disciplines, particularly biology and medicine, can show students how chemistry is relevant, beneficial, and applicable to everyday life. It would also be beneficial for instructors to use socially mediated teaching methods, such as team-based learning and peer collaborations, which have been shown to have positive effects on attitudes towards chemistry (Towns and Kraft, 2011).

In this sample, participants involved in undergraduate research had issues that were similar to those expressed by the graduate students. Those participating in undergraduate research did not think their research experiences made chemistry more relevant nor did it increase their interest in pursuing research in chemistry as a career. For undergraduates participating in research, it is important to know and understand the goals and processes of research. As with graduate students, they should have an awareness of the potential outcomes of their research and have an understanding of how their projects tie into previous and current research.

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