Careers in Science and Technology: An International Perspective by Advisory Committee

Author:Advisory Committee
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Policy for Science and Technology
Publisher: NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
Published: 1996-02-16T00:00:00+00:00

Factors Thought to Influence a Young Person’s Decision to Select a Career in S&T: Some Survey and Analytic Data

As we have tried to indicate so far, there are a wide range of factors that are believed to influence the decision to take up a career in S&T.3 These may include motivational and special interest aspects; economic considerations; image of industry; personality; ability in relation to the scientific and technical field; perception of career opportunities; conditions of work and career prospects; general state of the economy; encouragement by, and influences of, peers, friends, mentors, teachers, and college professors through discussion and advice (a large literature attests to this); conscious and subconscious motivation; attitude to, and image of, S&T itself; availability of educational opportunity (which is then a bridge toward later career choice); family background and sociocultural setting; and so on.

We do not intend in this paper to exhaustively review all of these factors—the attached reference list goes some way in signaling the wide range of literature available. But we do provide a selective overview.

An early and exhaustive analysis of economic considerations in both a theoretical and practical sense was provided by R.B. Freeman in The Market for College-Trained Manpower: A Study in the Economics of Career Choice (1971). A related early study focusing on undergraduate careers in the United States is provided in the exhaustive NORC study Undergraduate Career Decisions (J.A. Davis, 1965). Such early studies provide a useful overview of the economic and socioeconomic factors that still pertain to the present time.

We should recognize, however, that the wider socioeconomic circumstances, the wider environmental framework within which an individual makes his or her decision or career choice changes from decade to decade. This goes beyond trade or business cycles. One needs to understand in much more subtle terms than mere supply-demand curves how science, industry, commerce, research opportunity, and types of scientific and technological activity change in society and status over time. Within this changing context, industry, for example, may seem unattractive at one time, more interesting and attractive at another. Similarly, the actual and perceived opportunity for academic S&T careers fluctuates over the years—as do relative rates of pay and career progression opportunities. Thus, there is not a social constancy in relation to the decision or choice procedure. Times change and, hence, so do the factors.

This dynamic sociological factor is captured well in A. Astin’s study The Changing American College Student: Implications for Educational Policy and Practice (1991). Unlike several of the more micro, small sample surveys to which we will refer below, Astin’s study is based upon survey data that typically involve 250,000 students covering 550 higher education institutions over a period between the late 1960s and the mid-1980s. Astin summarizes the major findings from 24 surveys under 2 headings—career and study plans, and personal values (life goals)—and how these have been changing over time.

He concludes that "between the late 1960s and the mid-1980s American college students became much more focused on material goals and less concerned with altruism

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