The National Longitudinal Study of Young Life Scientists: Career differentiation among a diverse group of biomedical PhD students.

Autor: Wood CV; Department of Medical Social Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States of America., Jones RF; Scientific Careers Research and Development Group, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States of America., Remich RG; Scientific Careers Research and Development Group, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States of America., Caliendo AE; Scientific Careers Research and Development Group, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States of America., Langford NC; Scientific Careers Research and Development Group, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States of America., Keller JL; University of Arizona College of Medicine (retired), Tucson, AZ, United States of America., Campbell PB; Campbell-Kibler Associates, Groton, MA, United States of America., McGee R; Faculty Affairs, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, United States of America.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: PloS one [PLoS One] 2020 Jun 09; Vol. 15 (6), pp. e0234259. Date of Electronic Publication: 2020 Jun 09 (Print Publication: 2020).
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0234259
Abstrakt: Young biomedical PhD scientists are needed in a wide variety of careers. Many recent efforts have been focused on revising training approaches to help them choose and prepare for different careers. However, very little is known about how biomedical PhD students decide on and "differentiate" into careers, which limits the development of new training models. This knowledge gap also severely limits efforts to increase the representation of women and some racial/ethnic groups in academic research careers. Previous studies have used cross-sectional surveys of career interests and ratings, and have not been designed to identify career intentions. They also are limited by single-time data and response bias, having typically asked participants to recount decisions made years in the past. This report draws on annual, in-depth interviews with 147 biomedical PhD students from the start of the PhD to graduation. Qualitative content analysis methods were used to fully understand scientific development and career intentions over time. Longitudinal analysis reveals a striking level of fluidity and complexity in career intentions over time. Contrary to previous studies and the dominant narrative, data do not show generalized shifts away from academic careers. In addition to those who are consistent in this intention from the start, nearly as many students shift toward research academic careers as away from them, and only modest differences exist by gender and race/ethnicity. Thus, the dominant narrative misses the high fraction of individuals who acquire or sustain their intention to purse an academic research career during training. Efforts to increase diversity in academia must capitalize on and support those who are still considering and evolve toward an academic career. Efforts to revise research training should incorporate knowledge of the tremendous fluidity in when and how career differentiation occurs.
Competing Interests: One author, PBC, is employed by Campbell-Kibler Associates (CKA). Her time as a Co-Investigator on the study was supported by subcontracts from the NIH grants supporting this work to CKA. CKA provided no funds for this work and played no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript beyond the intellectual contributions of PBC. This relationship with CKA does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.
Databáze: MEDLINE
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