Document Type
Book
Abstract
The purpose of this research was to distinguish the similarities and differences in coping strategies of African American engineering students by analyzing their perceptions of stereotype threat at three academic institution types: Predominantly White Institutions (PWI), ethnically diverse, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The researcher collected demographic and survey data using the Stereotype Vulnerability Scale (SVS). The study was offered to the entire population of African American engineering students at each college using an online survey. Results were analyzed using MANOVA and Pearson‟s correlational statistical analyses to test the hypotheses. Findings revealed that few differences exist between students‟ scores on an assessment of stereotype vulnerability, with a few areas showing that HBCUs and ethnically diverse universities are doing a similar job in addressing perceptions of their African American engineering students. Finding also revealed that the percentage of African American students at a university did not correlate with the scores on the SVS accept on questions related to the personal feelings students have about their race. The strongest findings related to the differences in male and female students across the universities. African American female engineering students appeared to perceive more stereotype threat than did their male counterparts although this fining was not statistically significant. Overall, no statistically significant differences were found between students‟ perceptions of stereotype threat at the three types of universities. Future research should expand the number of survey participants at the current universities, add more HBCUs to the study population, run similar experiments in different parts of the country, compare stereotype threat in private and elite universities, use ethnically diverse universities as models for minority student development, and use new or improved survey instruments that delineate race and gender stereotype threat as perceived by African American female STEM students
Disciplines
Curriculum and Instruction | Education
Publication Date
1-1-2013
Language
English
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Sparks, David M.; Vornberg, James; and Johnson, Gail, "An Analysis Of Stereotype Threat In African American Engineering Students At Predominantly White, Ethnically Diverse, And Historically Black Colleges And Universities" (2013). Curriculum and Instruction Faculty Publications. 28.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/curriculuminstruction_facpubs/28
Comments
Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University-Commerce in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF EDUCATION, May 2013