Table 1
Focus group enrollment used as the source of data for this study. Numbers indicate the number of focus group participants for each class in each semester. Most but not all semesters had two focus groups per class. Blank cells indicate no focus groups for that particular class in that semester (not all classes were taught every semester).
| UNIVERSITY | COURSE | FALL 2018 | SPRING 2019 | FALL 2019 | SPRING 2020 | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University A | Intro to ME | FG1: 6 FG2: 4 | FG1: 2 | 12 | ||
| Electromagnetics | FG1: 4 FG2: 5 | FG1: 4 | FG1: 5 FG2: 7 | 25 | ||
| University B | Projects | FG1: 4 FG2: 4 | FG1: 4 | 12 | ||
| Total FG Participants | 8 | 19 | 10 | 12 | 49 |
Table 2
Identity table template for individual analytic research memos. Each researcher filled in the blank cells to capture each student’s response to these three focus group questions which were identified as most relevant to answering our research question. At least two researchers completed the table for each focus group.
| WHAT DO PRACTICING ENGINEERS THINK, DO, BELIEVE? | TO WHAT DEGREE DO YOU IDENTIFY AS AN ENGINEER? | VALUES OR ATTITUDES THAT INFLUENCE YOUR IDENTITY OR LACK OF IDENTITY AS AN ENGINEER? | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Student 1 | |||
| Student 2 | |||
| Student 3 (…and so on) |
Figure 1
Framework of influences on liminal engineering identities. We assume some progression from “Engineering student identity” generally but not uniformly towards “Engineering professional identity” that is shaped by the six categories arising from our data. Some categories are more driven by the students themselves, whereas others are shaped more by external people and forces, though data suggests that most categories are informed by both. Bi-directional arrows indicate that movement can be in either direction.
Figure 2
Although Figure 1 implies a single bidirectional spectrum from student identity to engineering identity to maintain its readability, in reality the data suggest a fair amount of shuttling back-and-forth in time along each category, as visualized for a single generic “Category” here.