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National Science Foundation (NSF).
       
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Project OverviewThe project seeks to identify important decision points in the educational and work experiences of Information Technology (IT) workers that have led them to enter and remain in the IT workforce. The results of this study will document the normal patterns of entry and retention in the IT workforce to provide a baseline to examine the special problems of women and minorities who are greatly underrepresented in this expanding and lucrative sector of the economy. Through a survey of both current IT and non-IT workers in the greater Kansas City area, the project will gather data on individual personality traits in conjunction with detailed family background, and educational and work histories. These data will in turn be used to identify aspects of attitudes, family background, and educational and work experiences that have influenced individual decisions to enter IT jobs, as well as to remain in (or exit from) them. Among IT workers we will use these same data to explore differences by sex, and race and ethnicity. The results will illuminate both the similarities between IT and science and engineering career choices, and the differences. Additional information about the project, including a more detailed description can be found in our NSF Proposal. |