Institutional
Ethnography
as
a
Method
to
Understand
the
Career
and
Parental
Leave
Experiences
of
STEM
Faculty
Members
June
2011
118th
ASEE
Annual
Conference
&
Exposition
Vancouver,
BC,
Canada
Mercado
Santiago,
M.,
Pawley,
A.
L.,
Hoegh,
J.,
&
Banerjee,
D.
Purdue
University
www.purdue.edu/dp/advance/ 1

Plan
1. Introduction
2. Institutional
Ethnography
Research
Methodology
3. Giddens’
Theory
of
Structuration
4. Methods
5. Demographics
6. Preliminary
Themes
7. Preliminary
Recommendations
www.purdue.edu/dp/advance/ 2

Introduction
*
 Women
and
ethnic
minorities
remain
underrepresented
in
STEM
faculty
positions
both
compared
to
the
population
of
faculty
members
within
United
States
and
to
the
general
US
population.
 There
is
a
need
to
understand
how
policies
structure
institutions
that
result
in
women
and
people
of
color’s
underrepresentation
in
academia.
*.
Gibbons,
M.T.
(2010).
Engineering
by
the
numbers.
Retrieved
from
h;p://wwwtemp.asee.org/publicaEons/profiles/upload/2009ProfileEngOverview.pdf
*.
NaEonal
Science
FoundaEon.
(2009).
Women,
Minori3es,
and
Persons
with
Disabili3es
in
Science
and
Engineering.
Arlington,
VA:
NaEonal
Science
FoundaEon.
www.purdue.edu/dp/advance/ 3

Introduction
Goal
of
the
study:
◦ Identify
the
disconnects
between
peoples’
experiences
of
the
parental
leave
policy
and
the
structures
of
the
policy.
Why
our
goal
is
important?
◦ To
improve
our
policy
and
procedures
◦ Demonstrate
how
this
research
method
can
help
university
administrators
improve
the
labor
context
of
STEM
faculty
members.
www.purdue.edu/dp/advance/ 4

Introduction
Research
Question
How
does
the
parental
leave
policy
and
procedures
shape
STEM
faculty
members’
experiences
in
ways
that
affect
their
personal
and
career
life?
www.purdue.edu/dp/advance/ 5

Institutional
Ethnography
Research
Methodology*
 Starts
from
the
experiences
of
people
in
the
institution’s
processes
 Lived
experiences
of
employees
help
researchers
identify:
 how
social
relations
structure
the
bigger
institutional
system
 how
policy
structures
affect
employees’
career
and
life
experiences
*.
Smith,
D.
E.
(2005).
Ins3tu3onal
ethnography:
A
sociology
for
people.
Lanham,
MD:
AltaMira
Press.
*.
Campbell,
M,
&
Gregor,
F.
(2004).
Mapping
social
rela3ons:
A
primer
in
doing
ins3tu3onal
ethnography.
Walnut
Creek,
CA:
AltaMira
Press.
www.purdue.edu/dp/advance/ 6

Eligible
faculty
member
Department
head
Parental
Leave
Policy
and
procedures
(and
other
policies
and
procedures)
Internal/
Childcare
Teaching
Service
(e.g.,
External
facilities
load
committees)
deadlines
Work-­family
policies
of
Research
Sick
leave
Advisees
external
lab
policy
grants
Business
ofDice
(Others:
administrative(s)
senior
faculty
members,
mentors,
Central
administration
staff
members,
childcare
personnel
administrators,
etc)

Structuration
Theory*
 Social
systems
exist
only
because
of
the
repeated
enactment
of
structures
(rules
and
procedures)
through
social
practices.e
 Social
structures
are
also
dual:
they
not
just
shape
people’s
experiences,
but
also
people’s
actions
reconstruct
or
shape
structures.e
*.
Sewell,
W.
H.
(1992).
A
theory
of
structure:
Duality,
agency,
and
transformaEon.
The
American
Journal
of
Sociology,
98(1),
1-­‐29.
www.purdue.edu/dp/advance/ 8

Structuration
Theory
• In
this
study,
the
parental
leave
policy
is
our
main
social
system,
situated
along
with
the
other
structures
that
work
together
with
it
(such
as
FMLA,
sick
leave,
unpaid
leave,
etc.).
Actors
(
rules
and
Parental
Actors
procedures
)
aE o n
>
Leave
<
structur
Policy
(and
other
<
structuraEon
>
policies)
Actors
(
social
system
)
www.purdue.edu/dp/advance/ 9

Methods
 Semi-­‐structured
interviews
conducted
between
2009
and
2010.
 Recruitment
mostly
through
snowball
sampling
and
grassroots
 Broad
themes
were
identiaied
airst
and
then
we
compiled
those
that
were
equivalent
(using
NViVo).
 Still
collecting
data.
25
cases
so
far.
www.purdue.edu/dp/advance/ 10

Demographics
Num.
Area
Position
Category
Gender
A1
Engineering
Assistant
professor
Administrator
Female
A2
Non-­‐STEM
Full
professor
Administrator
Female
A3
Non-­‐STEM
Staff
User
Female
A4
University-­‐Wide
Staff
Administrator
Male
*2
Admins.
in
Both
A5
University-­‐Wide
Staff
one
interview
Female
A6
Engineering
Assistant
professor
User
Female
A7
Engineering
Assistant
professor
Eligible
Male
A8
Science
Full
professor
Administrator
Male
A9
Science
Assistant
professor
User
Female
A10
Non-­‐STEM
Associate
professor
User
Female
A11
Science
Associate
professor
User
Male
A12
Non-­‐STEM
Assistant
professor
User
Female
Eng = 3; Non-STEM = 4; Science = 3; University-Wide admins = 3 (A5 had 2 admins)
www.purdue.edu/dp/advance/ 11

Themes
Childcare
Access
to
information
about
parental
leave
Faculty
members
continue
their
work
even
on
leave
Additional
themes
 The
need
to
improve
adoption
beneaits
 The
way
that
the
policy
is
written
 Adjusting
pregnancy
timing
to
better
manage
teaching
load
www.purdue.edu/dp/advance/ 12

Childcare
A9
/
Science
/
Assistant
Professor
/
Female
/
User
Interviewer:
So
tell
me
a
little
about
your-­‐-­‐
how
you
arranged
for
childcare
[?]
Participant:
Oh
yeah.
So
I
signed
up-­‐-­‐
here’s
something
that
is
a
big
problem
at
Institute
1.
On
campus
childcare
is-­-­‐
I
think
I
made
an
analogy
that
it’s
like
unicorns
and
rainbows.
[Laughs]
It’s
like
it
doesn’t-­‐-­‐
it
supposedly
exists,
but
there
are
something
like
24
spots
total
for
how
many
people
on
this
campus?
www.purdue.edu/dp/advance/ 13

Childcare
A7
/Engineering/
Assistant
Professor
/Male/Eligible
Interviewer:
Have
you
utilized
any
of
Institute
1's-­‐-­‐
or
have
you
found
any
of
Institute
1's
services
to
help
aind
childcare?
Participant:
We
are
certainly
aware
of
all
the
different
Institute
1
options
for
childcare.
Most
of
the
ones
we’ve
looked
at,
because
we
just
need
part
time
care,
are
prohibitively
expensive.
So
we’re
sort
of
exploring
alternatives.
Because
we
really
only
need
care
maybe
a
few
half
days
a
week.
www.purdue.edu/dp/advance/ 14

Themes
Childcare
Access
to
information
about
parental
leave
Faculty
member
continue
their
work
even
on
leave
Additional
themes
 The
need
to
improve
adoption
beneaits
 The
way
that
the
policy
is
written
 Adjusting
pregnancy
timing
to
better
manage
teaching
load
www.purdue.edu/dp/advance/ 15

Access
to
information
about
parental
leave
A9
/
Science
/
Assistant
Professor
/
Female
/
User
Participant:
My
experience
with
the
Dept
ADMIN
website
in
general
is
that
it’s
not
very
useful.
[Laughs]
But
it
tends
to
send
you
around
in
circles
and
not
give
you
the
information
you
need
and
just,
you
end
up
having
to
call
somebody
over
there
or
go
over
there
anyway.
www.purdue.edu/dp/advance/ 16

Access
to
information
about
parental
leave
A6
/
Engineering
/
Assistant
Professor
/
Female
/
User
Interviewer:
A
quick
question.
You
had
referred
to
the
handbook.
Is
that
a
written
document
that
you
have,
like
a
book
or
is
it
an
online
[?]...
Participant:
So
I
have
mine.
The
written
one
sometimes
I’ll
aind
that
I’m
doing
web
searches
and
I’ll
think
I
aind
things
that
are
either
excerpts
from
this
or
at
least
very,
very
similar
online,
too.
But
I
generally
Dind
the
Institute
1
website
a
little
bit
difDicult
to
navigate
in
Dinding
information.
So
if
I’m
trying
to
aind
information
from
the
Institute
1
website,
I
will
do
a
[Web
search].
I
will
go
to
[Web
portal];
I
will
type
in
Institute
1,
and
then
whatever
I’m
looking
for.
And
sometimes
I
aind
it
and
sometimes
I
don’t.
[Laughs]
so
then
I’ll
look
at
things
like
this
handbook
or
just
talk
to
people.
www.purdue.edu/dp/advance/ 17

Themes
Childcare
Access
to
information
about
parental
leave
Faculty
members
continue
their
work
even
on
leave
Additional
themes
 The
need
to
improve
adoption
beneaits
 The
way
that
the
policy
is
written
 Adjusting
pregnancy
timing
to
better
manage
teaching
load
www.purdue.edu/dp/advance/ 18

Faculty
members
continue
their
work
on
leave
A6
/
Engineering
/
Assistant
Professor
/
Female
/
User
Participant:
When
you
think
about
the
different
pieces,
there’s
the
research,
the
teaching
and
there’s
the
service.
And
so,
again,
with
the
kind
of
service
category,
I
wasn’t
attending
the
faculty
meetings
until
about
[month].
Wasn’t
attending
committee
meetings,
gave
occasional
input
to
people
about
that,
though.
And
then
the
other
piece
of
service
is
kind
of
external
to
the
Institute
1
community.
So
reviewing
conference
papers,
reviewing
journal
papers.
I
was
doing
that
stuff.
I
had
people
contact
me
and
say,
“Can
you
review
this
paper
please?”
I
said,
“oh.
OK.”
And
so
the
only
other
way
it
would
be
different
from
a
normal
semester
where
I
wasn’t
teaching
was
just
that
I
was
at
home
more.
Doing
the
work
at
home.
www.purdue.edu/dp/advance/ 19

Faculty
members
continue
their
work
on
leave
A7
/
Engineering
/
Assistant
Professor
/
Male
/
Eligible
Participant:
I
was
concerned
about
Dinding
people
to
Dill
in.
I
mean,
I
had
made
the
decision
at
the
beginning
of
the
semester
I
could
have
requested
from
the
department
to
not
have
a
teaching
commitment
this
semester.
I
made
the
decision
in
discussion
with
my
wife
that
I
would
teach
this
semester.
One
of
the
reasons
was
because
I
was
somewhat
drawn
to
the
teaching
assignment.
It’s
also
a
sequence
course.
www.purdue.edu/dp/advance/ 20

Faculty
members
continue
their
work
on
leave
A7
/
Engineering
/
Assistant
Professor
/
Male
/
Eligible
Interviewer:
So
how
did
you
manage
your
other
work
outside
of
teaching
during
that
time?
Participant:
What
I
tried
to
do
really
was
for
the
various
research
projects
I
was
working
on,
I
really
tried
to
get
them
all
sort
of-­-­‐
a
good
way
to
describe
it…
I
tried
to
get
the
house
in
order
as
we
were
getting
closer
and
closer
to
the
baby.
To
the
due
date.
So
for
instance,
making
sure
that
all
my
research
assistants
had
a
list
of
tasks
to
work
on
while
I
was
gone
or
while
I
wasn’t
in
as
communication
as
much.
[….]
I
had
colleagues
who
were
waiting
on
things
from
me…I
tried
to
get
all
that
in
order.
So
I
didn’t
have
it
hanging
over
my
head
after
our
[child]
was
born.
www.purdue.edu/dp/advance/ 21

Themes
Childcare
Access
to
information
about
parental
leave
Faculty
member
continue
their
work
even
on
leave
Additional
themes
 The
need
to
improve
adoption
beneaits
 The
way
that
the
policy
is
written
 Adjusting
pregnancy
timing
to
better
manage
teaching
load
www.purdue.edu/dp/advance/ 22

The
Need
to
Improve
Adoption
Beneaits
A5
/
University-­Wide
/
Two
administrators
in
one
interview
/
Both
female
Participant
1:
I
think
the
one
thing
that
we
do
hear
from
time
to
time
in
relationship
to
this
is
that
we
do
not
have
paid
adoption
beneDits.
We
don’t
have
any.
So
that
does
come
up
from
time
to
time.
Not
necessarily
in
relationship
to
this
paid
parental,
but
in
the
area
of
parental
leave
and
needs
for
family.
Interviewer:
What
would
be-­‐-­‐
I
guess
what
are
adoption
beneaits?
Participant
1:
You
can
offer
beneaits
for
the
[fees]
that
somebody
would
pay.
There’s
travel
and
fees
and
that
kind
of
thing.
And
there
are
programs
and
there
are,
you
know,
a
lot
of
employers
that
offer
some
tax
beneDits
for
some
level
of
adoption
beneDits
that
you
would
provide.
www.purdue.edu/dp/advance/ 23

The
Way
that
the
Policy
is
Written
A1
/
Engineering
/
Assistant
Professor
/
Female
/
Administrator
Participant:
Institute
2
[institution
of
comparison]
one
is
very,
like,
written
for
[eighth]
graders
and
its,
like
if
you
are
this
person
in
this
circumstance
this
is
what
you
do
to,
this
is
the
policy,
this
is
what
is
expected.
And
ours
is
written
for
people
from
another
planet
(Interviewer:
laughs),
for
people
from
another
planet.
www.purdue.edu/dp/advance/ 24

Adjusting
Pregnancy
to
Manage
Teaching
Load
A8
/
Science
/
Full
Professor
/
Male
/
Administrator
Participant:
So
for
example,
the
STEM
department
is
dominantly,
as
a
research
department,
I
mean,
a
very
large
component
of
what
we
do
is
research,
and
therefore,
our
teaching
loads
is
not
as
heavy
as
say
they
may
be
in
liberal
arts,
and
so,
but
even
in
Dept
STEM,
women
were
adjusting
their
pregnancies
to
try
and
give
birth
over
the
summer
when
we
don't
teach
in
the
summer.
We
just
teach
in
the
spring
and
the
fall
and
then
summer
our
salaries
are
covered
by
our
research
funds
and
so
forth.
www.purdue.edu/dp/advance/ 25

Summary
Childcare
Access
to
information
about
parental
leave
Faculty
member
continue
their
work
even
on
leave
Additional
themes
Policy
as
written
doesn’t
meet
faculty
members’
needs
for
leave
or
childcare
Faculty
make
accommodations
to
go
around
policy;
The
policy
remains
inadequate
www.purdue.edu/dp/advance/ 26

Update
post
ASEE
paper
• Focus
on
interviewing
department
heads.
• Race
and
ethnicity
demographics
information.
• Working
paper
that
analyses
the
experiences
of
ten
faculty
members
who
took
the
leave
(or
who
were
eligible).
– We
will
submit
it
this
year
to
JWMSE
www.purdue.edu/dp/advance/ 27

Policy-­‐Related
Recommendations
• Research
about
the
labor
context
of
STEM
faculty
members
should
inform
policy-­related
decisions.
• Explore
other
universities’
policies
on
modiDied
duties.
• Faculty
members
should
seek
permission
from
their
department
heads
to
enact
their
leave
intermittently.
www.purdue.edu/dp/advance/ 28

Other
Recommendations
• Mechanism
in
the
policy
should
be
included
to
ensure
that
faculty
members
can
Dind
childcare
services
on
campus
before
returning
to
work.
– There
is
an
urgent
need
of
childcare
services
for
infants
less
than
one
year
old.
www.purdue.edu/dp/advance/ 29

Acknowledgements
This
research
is
based
upon
work
supported
by
the
National
Science
Foundation
under
Grant
No.
HRD
0811194.
Any
opinions,
aindings
and
conclusions
or
recommendations
expressed
in
this
material
are
those
of
the
authors
and
do
not
necessarily
realect
the
views
of
the
National
Science
Foundation.
www.purdue.edu/dp/advance/ 30

Thanks
for
your
attention

Questions?
ADVANCE
Research
Team
Purdue
Center
for
Faculty
Success
Hall
for
Discovery
and
Learning
Research
207
S.
Martin
Jischke
Drive,
Suite
228
West
Lafayette,
IN
47907
(765)
494-­‐9335
Presentation
prepared
and
given
by
the
Research
Assistant
Marisol
Mercado
Santiago
(mercado@purdue.edu)
www.purdue.edu/dp/advance/ 31

References
a.
Gibbons,
M.T.
(2010).
Engineering
by
the
numbers.
Retrieved
from
http://wwwtemp.asee.org/publications/proailes/upload/2009ProaileEngOverview.pdf
b.
National
Science
Foundation,
Division
of
Science
Resources
Statistics.
(2009).
Women,
Minorities,
and
Persons
with
Disabilities
in
Science
and
Engineering.
Arlington,
VA:
National
Science
Foundation.
c.
Smith,
D.
E.
(2005).
Institutional
ethnography:
A
sociology
for
people.
Lanham,
MD:
AltaMira
Press.
d.
Campbell,
M,
&
Gregor,
F.
(2004).
Mapping
social
relations:
A
primer
in
doing
institutional
ethnography.
Walnut
Creek,
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