Needs Assessment

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Needs Assessment
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Needs Assessment June 2004 January 2005

• Research Goals
• Gauge high school girls level of interest in
  and awareness
• of careers in the engineering field
• Assess general career motivators and barriers
  toward the
• engineering field
• Evaluate current messages being put forward to
  the target
• audience by the engineering community
• Explore messaging opportunities for increasing
  enrollment
• in the engineering field

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Methodology
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Key Findings
What do high school girls think about
engineering? High school girls believe
engineering is for people who love both math and
science. They do not have an understanding of
what engineering is. They do not show an
interest in the field nor do they think it is
for them.
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What do high school girls think about
engineering?

• Someone who excels in math and science. Likes
  working out problems and working with other
  people.
• Someone who is motivated, dedicated, and who
  doesnt mind sitting in a cubicle all day.
• I believe it would have to be someone who
  enjoys mathematical situations and loves a good
  challenge.

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Key Findings
Is there a gender divide in engineering?
The common understanding among all audiences is
that engineering is perceived to be a mans
profession and there is little to no
encouragement for girls to consider engineering.
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Is there a gender divide in engineering?

• Very few females go into engineering. They do
  not see the career being very glamorous.
• Engineers are often stereotyped as geeks. This,
  coupled with the fact that some girls are
  discouraged from pursuing math and science, often
  results in an unfavorable perception created at a
  very young age.

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Key Findings
What are career motivators for high school girls?
Professional interests for high school girls
hinge upon relevance. Relevance incorporates
that a job is rewarding, and it suggests that the
profession is for someone like me. Girls want
their job to be enjoyable, have a good working
environment, make a difference, offer a good
salary, and be flexible.
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What are career motivators for high school girls?

• I want to be in medical research. I love
  science and I love people, and if I could find a
  cure or help someone fight off disease, Id be so
  happy.
• Im interested in business because its fun to
  travel for your job, good atmosphere, chance to
  make it big. It just seems like something that I
  could imagine myself doing.

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Key Findings
Who are the career influencers for high school
girls?

• Parents
• Peers
• Educators
• Media

What do the career influencers say about
engineering?
Career influencers, including educators, are not
familiar with how to guide students toward
engineering. The positive stories about
engineering are not being told to this audience.

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Key Findings
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Key Findings
What messages is the engineering community
sending to high school students?
Current engineering messages portray engineering
as challenging and stress the importance of
superior math and science abilities. These
messages are not relevant for this audience.
Messages do not include the benefits and rewards
of being an engineer.

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What messages is the engineering community
sending to high school students?

• Math and science! Work to excel in both
  disciplines!
• Its not easybut if youre the type who when
  faced with a problem some would call impossible
  is even more driven to move mountains to find a
  solution, then you might have it in you to be an
  engineer.

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Key Findings
Engineering is difficult and stressful, but you
will realize that youre gaining that much more
knowledge and experience. They should be
working hard in math and science in order to
make the switch from high school to college
easier. Engineering is one of the toughest
majors in college, you need to have confidence
to get through it.
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Key Findings
What messages about engineering will resonate
with high school students?
High school girls react positively to personal
and informational stories that tell more about
the engineering lifestyle. They are interested
in learning how engineering aligns with their
career motivatorsenjoyable, good working
environment, making a difference, income, and
flexibility. The most effective messages used
examples that contained multiple career
motivators.
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DISCONNECT Current messaging about engineering
is not aligned with key motivators for students.
Neither the emphasis on curriculum nor the
notion of a challenge is relevant for high
school girls.