No description available.

This quantitative longitudinal study sought to highlight the difference between the proportion of men and women who planned to pursue a STEM major in the fields of mathematics, natural sciences, engineering, and computer and information sciences as freshmen, as well as to determine the proportion of men and women who changed their major choice by their senior year. In addition, the researcher sought to identify women students’ unique background characteristics and college experiences that have taken place over the course of their undergraduate college career that may have predicted their declared major choice (STEM versus non-STEM) as seniors. A review of the literature, along with Astin’s Involvement Theory, encouraged the hypothesis that college experiences influence women’s college major choice: STEM versus non-STEM. Secondary data obtained from the Cooperative Institutional Research Program at the higher Education Research Institute was used. The sample was delimitated to include only full-time undergraduate students who were graduating in 2012 or 2013. Five research questions were addressed in this study. Astin’s (1993) Input-Environment-Outcome Model was used as a conceptual framework. Descriptive (frequencies and percentages) and inferential (chi-square test and discriminant analysis) statistics were used to analyze the data. The results found a statistically significant difference between the proportion of men and women who planned to pursue a STEM major as freshmen as well as the proportion of men and women who changed their major choice from STEM to non-STEM. Discriminant analysis was used to predict group membership of STEM versus non-STEM major choice among women. It was found that many variables had an impact on predicting STEM group membership among women: satisfaction with college math and science courses, high school GPA, SAT score, high self-ratings of problem-solving skills and mathematical ability, and participating in undergraduate research. There were also variables that had a greater ability of predicting non-STEM group membership. The findings from this study will hopefully inform policy and practice. Implications for policy, practice, and future research are included. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2019. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Faculty are the academic heart of colleges and universities. They guide learning and facilitate student academic and social integration in the campus community. As described by Tinto, student integration is an important component to success in college. Out-of-class and in-class faculty-student interaction supports student integration and may lead to improved college completion. Students enter college with expectations for what they are about to experience, including expectations for faculty interaction. Smart adapted Holland's vocational choice theory to study college disciplines and found that faculty in six broad categories of disciplines displayed specific environmental and personality traits and interacted differently with students. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine relationships between first-time-in-college (FTIC), prior-to-matriculation student expectations of faculty-student interaction and two dependent variables: four-year degree completion and FTIC, prior-to-matriculation student's major, as categorized in one of Holland's categories. High school GPA, ethnicity, and gender were controlled in the study. The sample consisted of 3,144 FTIC, prior-to-matriculation students enrolled at the University of South Florida, a large, metropolitan public university in the South during the summer or fall of 2008. Students completed the College Student Expectations Questionnaire (CSXQ) as part of a mandatory university orientation program. Seven items on the CSXQ's "Experiences with Faculty" section were summed and used to assess a FTIC, prior-to-matriculation student's level of expected faculty-student interaction. Students' prior-to-matriculation majors were assigned to one of seven Holland major categories --investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, realistic, conventional, and not in Holland. However, only five categories; investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and not in Holland were used because no FTIC, prior-to-matriculation student majors were assigned to the realistic and conventional Holland categories. A binary logistic regression was used to investigate the potential relationship between (FTIC), prior-to-matriculation student expectations of faculty-student interaction score and four-year degree completion. A statistically significant relationship (p<.05) was not observed between a FTIC, prior-to-matriculation student's expectation level for faculty-student interaction score and four-year degree completion. A statistically significant relationship (p<.05) was observed between the independent variables of high school GPA and gender and the dependent variable of four-year college completion. A one-point increase in the student's high school GPA showed an increase of the odds of four-year graduation by a factor of 2.96. The study also found the odds of a female graduating in four years is increased by about 1.3 times over a male four-year graduation. A multinomial logistic regressions were used to evaluate the relationship between (FTIC), prior-to-matriculation student expectations of faculty-student interaction score and Holland's categories. A statistically significant relationship (<.05) was found between a FTIC student's expectation level for faculty-student interaction and a student's FTIC Holland classification. As the level of the faculty-student expectation score increased by one point, the odds of being a member of the investigative category over the artistic, social, or enterprising category increased by 1.05 times, 1.03 times, or 1.04 times, respectively. The results must be interpreted with caution, given the small effect sizes, as exhibited by a Cox and Snell's value of .005 and a Nagelkerke value of .006.

Using a sequential, explanatory mixed methods design, this dissertation study compared students who persist in the biology major (persisters) with students who leave the biology major (switchers) in terms of how their pre-college experiences, college biology experiences, and biology performance figured into their choice of biology and their persistence in or departure from the biology major. This study combined 1) quantitative comparisons of biology persisters and switchers via a questionnaire developed for the study and survival analysis of a larger population of biology freshmen with 2) qualitative comparison of biology switchers and persisters via semi-structured life story interviews and homogenous focus groups. 319 students (207 persisters and 112 switchers) participated in the questionnaire and 36 students (20 persisters and 16 switchers) participated in life story and focus group interviews. All participants were undergraduates who entered The University of Texas at Austin as biology freshmen in the fall semesters of 2000 through 2004. Findings of this study suggest: 1) Regardless of eventual major, biology students enter college with generally the same suite of experiences, sources of personal encouragement, and reasons for choosing the biology major; 2) Despite the fact that they have also had poor experiences in the major, biology persisters do not actively decide to stay in the biology major; they simply do not leave; 3) Based upon survival analysis, biology students are most at-risk of leaving the biology major during the first two years of college and if they are African-American or Latino, women, or seeking a Bachelor of Arts degree (rather than a Bachelor of Science); 4) Biology switchers do not leave biology due to preference for other disciplines; they leave due to difficulties or dissatisfaction with aspects of the biology major, including their courses, faculty, and peers; 5) Biology performance has a differential effect on persistence in the biology major, depending on how well students perform in comparison to other courses or other students. / text

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Auburn University, 2006. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references (p.93-103).

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Auburn University, 2006. / Abstract. Vita. Includes bibliographic references (p.93-103).

Thesis (M. S.)--Florida State University, 2005. / Advisors: Dr. Aubrey Kent and Dr. Jerome Quarterman, Florida State University, College of Education, Dept. of Sport Management, Recreation Management, and Physical Education. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 14, 2005). Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 49 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Humboldt State University, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (35-39). Also available via Humboldt Digital Scholar.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Ohio University, June, 2010. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

Using self-determination theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 1985b) as the theoretical framework, this study examined the following three hypotheses: 1) there is a positive relationship between the level of perceived parental need support and the level of major satisfaction; 2) there is a positive relationship between the level of perceived parental need support and the level of autonomous self-regulation in their agricultural major; and 3) the level of autonomous self-regulation partially mediates the relationship between the levels of perceived parental need support and major satisfaction. Participants included 536 college students with declared agricultural majors in a college of agriculture at a large Midwestern university. Measures included the Perceptions of Parents Scale (POPS; Robbins, 1994), the Self-regulation Questionnaire (SRQ; Ryan & Connell, 1989) and the Academic Major Satisfaction Survey (AMSS; Nauta, 2007). As hypothesized, autonomous self-regulation mediated the relationship between perceived parental need support and major satisfaction. Specifically, autonomous self regulation fully mediated the relationship between perceived mother need support and major satisfaction and only partially mediated the relationship between father need support and major satisfaction. Implications of this study include the potential relevance of self-determination theory to the career development literature and major satisfaction generally.