Dissertation Chapter 1 - Annotated Sample

Aug 29, 2026

Chapter I sets up a qualitative grounded theory study focused on understanding what motivates women to stay in or return to STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) professions, including development of a motivation model. The background establishes gender imbalance in STEM across universities and workplaces, higher early-career exit rates for women, and links to related factors such as wage gaps. It reviews prior research, summarizes relevant government programs and initiatives, and highlights gaps in how fully the programs’ impacts have been quantified. It also presents workforce statistics from U.S. Census Bureau and the National Science Foundation, emphasizing underrepresentation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages16

Reading Time40 min

AccessFree to download

Chapter I: Introduction

General Statement

Margins and Formatting Requirements

Purpose and Motivation Model

Problem Statement and Need for Research

Programs and Prior Research

Workforce Statistics and Underrepresentation

Introduce the general topic area. CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION The top, bottom, and right margins should be set to 1 inch. The left margin should be set to 1 ¼ inch. The purpose of this qualitative grounded theory study was to identify what motivates Tip: Always introduce abbreviations. Once you introduce it, you can use the abbreviation alone. women to stay in or return to science, technology, engineering, and math professions (STEM), leading to a motivation model. As illustrated in the literature review, research has been done on related topics, particularly why women leave STEM professions. Why women stay long term remained largely unanswered prior to this study. General Statement Tip: Think of your “General Statement” section as the background of your study. Men outnumber women in STEM professions, both at the university level and in the workplace (Szelenyi & Inkelas, 2011; Thilmany, 2008) . Careers in STEM range from technical niche professions to broader leadership roles. Some examples include: research, engineering, computer programming, physical sciences, life sciences, or design. Despite more women entering the workforce in STEM professions, trends show that women leave STEM professions early in their careers at higher rates than men (Fouad, Singh, Fitzpatrick, & Liu, 2012; Thilmany, 2008) . A study released in 2008 and supported by science, engineering, and technology companies showed that 52% of women between the ages of 35-40 in science, engineering, and technology professions left the workplace (Thilmany, 2008) . Women exit STEM professions at a higher rate than men, comparable to other professions (Hunt, 2010) . The higher ratio of males versus females in a given workplace has a direct correlation to the number of women who exit versus men (Hunt, 2010) . Women in engineering professions leave at the highest rate, primarily because of the wage gap in comparison to their male counterparts (Hunt, 2010) . Preston (2004) argued that the loss of STEM professionals is wasteful, citing that the social investment in training this workforce does not have an Use evidence to show that the problem exists. 1 Chapter I begins on page 1. No information appears in the header. Point out the need for the issue to be addressed. adequate return, if there continues to be a high percentage of men and women who leave at some point during their university or early in their professional workplace careers. Numerous programs are in place to recruit girls to enroll in science, engineering, and technology educational programs. Many U.S. government-sponsored programs sought to find answers on how to best recruit and retain women in STEM professions. Some of the more commonly referenced government programs and research projects include ADVANCE, WISE, WiSER, RAISE, The Engineer 2020 Project, Beyond Bias and Barriers, BEST, The Quiet Crisis, Rise Above the Gathering Storm, and The STEM Workforce Data Project to name a few (Jolly, 2009; Lincoln, Pincus, Koster, & Leboy, 2012; Mavriplis et al., 2010) . The urgency of identifying solutions to improving the recruitment and retention of women in STEM fields is expressed in each of these programs or projects. Despite gains in STEM university and industry settings, the full impact of these programs has not been quantified (Jolly, 2009; Lincoln et al., 2012; Mavriplis et al., 2010) . Further research in this area is needed to uncover what factors contribute to women persisting in STEM professions. According to the U.S. workforce statistics available from the U.S. Census Bureau from 2006-2010, women are 47.2% of the U. S. workforce. As the United States transitioned from a manufacturing economy to a knowledge worker economy from 1950 to 2000, the STEM workforce grew exponentially (Lowell, 2010) . Since 2001, the number of professionals entering STEM fields is in a marked decline, predicted to fall short of forecasted demand (Lowell, 2010) . According to the

FAQs

What is the purpose of the qualitative grounded theory study described in Chapter I?

The study aims to identify what motivates women to stay in or return to STEM professions and to develop a motivation model.

What problem does the chapter highlight regarding women in STEM careers?

It highlights that women leave STEM professions early at higher rates than men, and that the reasons for long-term persistence remain insufficiently answered prior to the study.

Which statistics and sources are used to support the background and underrepresentation claims?

The chapter cites U.S. Census Bureau workforce statistics (2006–2010) and National Science Foundation data on women’s representation in science and engineering workforces.

Aug 29, 2026

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