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Institutional Ethnography as a Method to Understand the Career and Parental Leave Experiences of STEM Faculty Members<br />February 18, 2011<br />Marisol Mercado Santiago, Alice Pawley, JordanaHoegh, and Dina Banerjee<br />

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Plan<br />Introduction<br />Institutional Ethnography Research Methodology<br />Methods<br />Demographics of the coded interviews<br />Preliminary Themes<br />Preliminary Recommendations<br />

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Introduction<br /><ul><li>Women and people of colorremain underrepresented in STEM faculty positions both compared to the population of faculty at large and compared to the general US population

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There is a need to understand how the organization of institutions structure policies and social relations that result in women and people of color’s underrepresentation in academia.</li></ul>Gibbons, M.T. (2010). Engineering by the numbers. Retrieved from <br />http://wwwtemp.asee.org/publications/profiles/upload/2009ProfileEngOverview.pdf<br /> [NSF] National Science Foundation, Division of Science Resources Statistics. (2009). Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities <br /> in Science and Engineering. Arlington, VA: National Science Foundation.<br />

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Introduction<br /><ul><li>Goal of the study:

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Identify the disconnects between peoples’ experiences of the parental leave policy and the structure of the policy.

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Why our goal is important?

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It will help the institution improve the policy and its procedures

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It will help the institution see how these disconnects are related to gender and race

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How these disconnects may be mismatched with the lived experiences of faculty members at the institution</li></li></ul><li>Introduction<br />Research Question<br />How does the parental leave policy and procedures shape STEM faculty members’ experiences in ways that affect their personal and career life?<br />

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Institutional Ethnography Research Methodology<br /><ul><li>Begins with the experiences of the people in the institution’s processes

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Lived experiences of employees help researchers identify:

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how social relations structure the bigger institutional system

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how policy structures affect employees’ career and life experiences</li></ul>Smith, D. E. (2005). Institutional ethnography: A sociology for people. Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press.<br />Campbell, M, & Gregor, F. (2004). Mapping social relations: A primer in doing institutional ethnography. <br />Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.<br />

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Methods<br /><ul><li>Recruitment more successful via snowball sampling and grassroots

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Semi-structured interviews conducted between 2009 and 2010.

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Broad themes were identified first and then we compiled those that were equivalent (using NViVo).

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Still collecting data. 23 interviews so far.</li></li></ul><li>IE-PL Status Graph<br />

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Demographics of the coded interviews<br />Eng = 3; Non-STEM = 4; Science = 4; University-Wide admins = 3 (A5 had 2 admins)<br />

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Preliminary Themes<br />

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Parental leave policy in semester context<br />

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Faculty members continue their work on leave<br />

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Faculty members continue their work on leave<br />

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Adjusting pregnancy timing to better manage teaching load<br />

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Adjusting pregnancy timing to better manage teaching load (Cont.)<br />

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The scientist is now a mom<br />

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The scientist is now a mom (Cont.)<br />

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Childcare facilities<br />

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Childcare facilities<br />

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Childcare facilities<br />

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Breastfeeding and Childcare Facilities<br />

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Policy-Related Recommendations<br />Research about the labor of STEM academics need to inform policy development. <br />Policy needs to cover the particular labor and semester context of faculty members.<br />Explore other universities’ policies on modified dutiesfor faculty members.<br />Sullivan, B., Hollenshead, C., & Smith, G. (2004). Developing and implementing work-family policies for faculty <br />[Electronic version]. Academe, 90(6). Retrieved from http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/pubsres/academe/2004/ND/Feat/04ndsulli.htm<br />

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Other Recommendations<br />Childcare facilities on-campus need to be expanded and mechanism in the policy should be included to ensurethat faculty members find these services before returning to work. <br />

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Thanks for your attention <br />Questions?<br />ADVANCE Research Team<br />Purdue Center for Faculty SuccessHall for Discovery and Learning Research207 S. Martin Jischke Drive, Suite 228West Lafayette, IN 47907 (765) 494-9335<br />Presentation prepared and given by the Research Assistant Marisol Mercado Santiago (mercado@purdue.edu)<br />

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Disclaimer<br /> This research is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. HRD 0811194. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.<br />

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Structuration Theory<br /><ul><li>Social systems exist only because of the repeated enactment of structures through social practices.6

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Social structures are also dual: they not just shape people’s experiences, but also people’s actions reconstruct or shape structures.6</li></li></ul><li>Structuration Theory5<br /><ul><li>Structuresare “rules and resources, or sets of transformation relations, organized as properties of social systems” (p. 25).5

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Systemis “reproduced relations between actors or collectivities, organized as regular social practices” (p. 25).5

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Structuration, then, was defined as the set of “conditions governing the continuity or transmutation of structures, and therefore the reproduction of social systems" (p. 25).5</li></li></ul><li>Structuration Theory<br />In this study, the parental leave policy is our main social system, situated along with the other systems that work together with it (such as FMLA, sick leave, unpaid leave, etc.). <br />Parental<br />Leave<br />Policy<br />(and other <br />systems)<br /> ( Condition 1 )<br />< structuration ><br />( rules and <br />procedures )<br />< structures ><br />< structuration ><br />( social system )<br /> ( Condition 2 )<br />