An evaluation of freshman engineering persistence using Expectancy-Value Theory

As we engage in an increasingly complex and quickly progressing world, the development of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students will be increasingly important to the continuation of the United States´ competitiveness. However, the overall number of STEM students earning a degree will not be able to meet the increasing demand for practicing professionals especially within historically underrepresented groups such as women and minorities. One way to tackle this problem is to increase the retention of STEM students by studying the processes that influence persistence to completion of a STEM degree. Retention is critically important to the field of engineering as over 10% of all engineering majors will switch to other STEM degrees and even more will not persist within STEM fields at all. The focus of this paper is to utilize Expectancy-Value Theory to determine how freshman engineering students (both those who persisted within the major and those who switched out of the major) perceive engineering. Research was conducted at a predominately undergraduate liberal arts institution with a medium sized engineering program. Interview data was examined for 11 entering freshman who stayed with the engineering program (persisters) and 10 entering freshman who switched to different majors (switchers).