Work in Progress: Qualitative methods for studying women’s information experiences in engineering education

Background

This paper will outline the progress to date on a PhD study investigating the information experiences of female engineering undergraduates in the UK.

Women make up 20% of undergraduate engineering and technology students in the UK (Higher Education Statistics Authority, 2023), and 16.5% of working engineers (Women's Engineering Society, 2022). Being in a numerical minority of any kind may involve negative experiences, and the effect is greater when the numerical minority also has less societal power, for example ethnic minorities in predominantly white spaces, or women in predominantly male spaces (Yoder, 1991). The research will focus on the information experiences of women engineering undergraduates within their highly masculinised learning environment.

Information experience (IE) has been defined as “the way in which people experience or derive meaning from the way in which they engage with information and their lived worlds” (Bruce et al., 2014, pp. 5-6). This research will follow the approach of Gorichanaz (2020) in using IE as a lens to examine both information literacy and information behaviour together (Gorichanaz, 2020).

Information experiences are highly contextual (Hicks, 2018), and for students may be shaped by factors including norms and expectations of the discipline (Mercer et al., 2019), as well as social and affective needs (Kuhlthau, 1991; Wilson, 1981). These may in turn be influenced by the learning culture, which impacts learner motivation, sense of belonging, and persistence (Secules & Masta, 2020). Therefore this research will explore research questions related to the interaction of female engineering undergraduates’ information experiences with their broader experiences in the engineering classroom.

Purpose

This paper will share preliminary data and reflections on the methodology from the pilot study, which takes place October-December 2024.

The study will explore the following research questions: 1. How does the lived experience of being a woman in an undergraduate engineering classroom shape the information behaviour of women students? 2. How does the gendered learning environment of an engineering classroom interact with women’s information literacy development? 3. What are the aims and motivations of female engineering students when engaging with information? 4. What role does affect play in women engineering students’ information experiences? 5. Is personal epistemology, specifically Women’s Ways of Knowing (Belenky et al., 1997/1986), a useful lens through which to examine women engineering students’ information experiences?

Method/Design/Scope

The study will take a qualitative, phenomenological approach. Female engineering undergraduates will be recruited from up to four UK universities of varying size, type, and demographics. Participants will be asked to keep a diary recording their information experiences over 2-4 weeks. Following this, participants will be invited to participate in semi-structured interviews, using the diary narratives as a starting point for discussion. Analysis of the diary entries and interview transcripts will aim to produce a detailed description of how information is experienced in the lifeworlds of the research participants (Dahlberg et al., 2008).

It is anticipated that this research will provide a unique contribution to knowledge by taking a qualitative approach to exploring information experience holistically, examining women’s experiences in depth and within the context of engineering education. Attendees of this conference session will gain an understanding of the information challenges of this minority group in engineering education, as well as an insight into the use of qualitative methods to understand women’s information experiences.