Engineering activities differentiated by experience and gender

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dc.contributor.authorCrossin, Enda
dc.contributor.authorGardner A
dc.contributor.authorNaswall, Katharina
dc.contributor.authorPawsey F
dc.contributor.authorRowe G
dc.contributor.authorStewart E
dc.date.accessioned2024-01-08T01:55:16Z
dc.date.available2024-01-08T01:55:16Z
dc.date.issued2023
dc.description.abstractCONTEXT Research on ‘what engineers do’ is typically limited to the study of competencies required for practice (Mazzurco et al., 2021). Studies have identified variations in the importance of competencies (Passow & Passow, 2017; Pons, 2016), but there are limited studies on the frequency and importance of the common engineering activities that enable these competencies. Moreover, prior research has identified that engineering activities are likely gendered (Hatmaker, 2013). PURPOSE The goal of this research was to identify differences in the frequency and importance of engineering activities between graduate and experienced engineers. The secondary goal was to investigate if there is a difference in these activity measures by gender. The purpose of this research was to a) support engineering educators with an empirical understanding of practice, and b) to raise awareness of potential gendered engineering activities. APPROACH A cohort of 790 practicing engineers were surveyed on the frequency and importance of 85 common engineering activities. Participants were grouped by experience (0 to 4 years’, and 5 or more years’ experience) and by gender (woman/female and man/male). We normalised response data, then compared the distribution of ranks to test for differences in the frequency and importance of the activities by experience and gender groups. ACTUAL OUTCOMES Differentiated activities for graduate engineers related to seeking advice and interacting with materials and equipment. For experienced engineers, differentiated activities were associated with management. Differentiated activities for women/female engineers were associated with people-related activities, while physical activities were associated for males/men. CONCLUSIONS The observed differentiation by experience and gender confirms prior research. Further crosssectional and longitudinal analyses will provide further insights into the determinants and outcomes associated with this activity segregation.
dc.identifier.citationCrossin E, Gardner A, Näswall K, Pawsey F, Rowe G, Stewart E (2023). Engineering activities differentiated by experience and gender. Gold Coast, Queensland: 34th Australasian Association for Engineering Education Conference. 04/12/2023-06/12/2023.
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10092/106587
dc.rightsAll rights reserved unless otherwise stated
dc.rights.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10092/17651
dc.subjectengineering practice
dc.subjectwork
dc.subjectcompetencies
dc.subjectattributes
dc.subject.anzsrc40 - Engineering::4010 - Engineering practice and education::401003 - Engineering practice
dc.titleEngineering activities differentiated by experience and gender
dc.typeConference Contributions - Published
uc.collegeFaculty of Engineering
uc.departmentElectrical and Computer Engineering
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