In this section, I describe how I have answered RQ1: “What are the characteristic ways mid-year engineering students are thinking about their future careers?” by combining the results of four phases (Table 2.1). Four different ways of thinking about future possible careers have been identified. In the Exploratory QUAL Phase (Chapter 3), we identified three different ways of thinking about future possible careers, visualized as different shapes of ice cream cones: Sugar, Cake, and Waffle Cones (pg. 64). The quantitative strand then allowed us to identify a fourth way of thinking about the future, described in more depth in the Explanatory QUAL Phase (Chapter 7, pg. 139). RQ 1 is by nature a phenomenographic research question as it characterizes different ways of thinking about something. As such, the remainder of this section will focus primarily on interpreting the results of the two qualitative phases to provide outcomes similar to what we would expect from a phenomenography: a description of the individual groups, a comparison of the groups, and an explanation of how the groups fit in an outcome space (Dall’Alba & Hasselgren, 1996). Since I describe the individual groups in a previous chapter (Sugar, Cake, and Waffle Cones, pg. 64) and a
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comparison of three of the groups in Chapter 3 (pg. 69), I’ll first focus on comparing the fourth new group, Cup, to the previous three.
Comparing Cup to Sugar, Cake, and Waffle
Both the Cake Cone and Cup groups demonstrated a short extension into the future. Future goals described by participants in Cake Cone focused on graduation and finding a job they enjoy after graduation, similar to participants’ descriptions in Cup. However, participants in Cup described thinking about graduation and finding a job they enjoy, and redirect the conversation to the near-future, such as being better prepared for class that week or finding an internship that summer so that they can learn more about their field. Participants in Cup also described finding a job that they enjoy and that uses their degree, narrowing their perceived instrumentality of present tasks.
Both Cake Cone and Cup groups described their future possible careers in terms of broad desired characteristics. However, participants in Cake Cone seemed to be empowered by their many opportunities while participants in Cup seemed uncomfortable with the many options within these broad perceptions of the future. The following quotes demonstrate this difference:
I’m not trying to force a future for myself at this point. More so, be out there looking and embrace what opportunities are given to me. I used to be dead set on like what I wanted to do but I realize that’s
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not necessarily going to make me happy where I want to be. (Mary, Cake Cone)
I'm going to be working, but I don't want to plan too specifically, I guess, and have plans change or something. …I just ... I don't want to be disappointed, I don't want to have ... I don't want to go in with a preconception that's going to affect how I make my decisions and things. I don't want to say oh, I thought I was going to be here, so I'm going to say no to this. Does that make sense? (Hannah, Cup)
This discomfort and even fear of the future can be compared to participants in Waffle Cone who described some discouragement with not being able to achieve their ideal future possible career. However, participants in Waffle Cone described discouragement in a very specific context of the first job after graduation. Participants in Cup describe this discouragement more broadly.
[Ideally, I see myself] like, working in a factory, [but realistically] I’m not expecting that to happen. (Jacob, Waffle Cone)
My fear is that I get an engineering degree, and something happens, and I am stuck in a job that I don't really care for and that's something that I am not really...I don't ideally want in life. (Parker, Cup)
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Also similar to Waffle Cone is the uncertainty beyond the first job after graduation; however, when participants in Cup described their future possible careers, it was a description of the broad possible careers related to their major, while participants in Waffle had narrowed down their future possible careers some:
Um, I, right now if you asked me what would probably happen I would probably end up taking the position at [major automotive firm] …. I guess I can’t really speak for what I’ll feel like in 10 years. (Stefan, Waffle Cone)
I don't know [where I’ll be working in 10 years]. Maybe working for the government, maybe a private cybersecurity firm, maybe an insurance company if I do the actuarial science route. Honestly, I don't know. (Hannah, Cup)
Outcome Space
I described the outcome space for students’ characteristic ways of thinking about future possible careers initially in Exploratory QUAL Phase (Chapter 3, pg.62). Through the proceeding phases, I began to further refine the outcome space. The key constructs distinguishing the different ways of thinking were identified (Table 4.1), and when comparing the four different ways of thinking, they are distinguished by Alignment and Clarity of Future Possible Careers (Chapter 6, pg. 110), which are not described in the shape of the cone (Figure 3.2), but rather in how the cones are
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positioned in the outcome space relative to one another. The shapes of the different groups are explained in previous chapters (Sugar, pg. 65 ; Cake, pg. 68 ; Waffle, pg. 66; Cup, pg. 140 ). Each of the four groups are positioned in the outcome space, which is defined in terms of Alignment and Clarity of Future Possible Careers, in Figure 8.1. Sugar Cone quantitatively has the highest Attitude and Clarity of Future Possible Career scores and is positioned in the top right corner of the outcome space. These results are supported by the qualitative data; when asked about their futures, participants described one well-defined ideal future possible career that is also attainable.
Cake Cone is situated down and to the left of Sugar Cone based on their lower quantitative scores for Alignment and Clarity of Future Possible Careers. The qualitative comparison of the Alignment of Future Possible Careers for Sugar and Cake Cone is difficult due to the very different terms in which they were discussed. The ill-defined nature of the future possible careers described by participants in Cake Cone seemed to have slightly less certainty in the alignment of their ideal and realistic future possible careers. However, both groups are positioned above Cup and Waffle Cone in terms of Alignment of Future Possible Careers.
Cup is positioned in the bottom left corner of the outcome space, with the lowest scores of Clarity and Alignment of Future Possible Careers out of the four groups. Participants in Cup described their future in very uncertain terms, with a focus on the
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near-future. These participants also described feelings of being stuck in engineering, which seemed to be related to their low quantitative score in Alignment of Future Possible Careers
Participants in Waffle Cone, in contrast, described a conflicting ideal and realistic future possible career in both their interviews and their quantitative scores. Waffle Cone falls near the center of the outcome space due to their conflicting ideal and realistic future possible careers, which are more clearly defined and perceived as more attainable than those for Cup.
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Figure 8.1 Four Different Perceptions of Future Possible Careers Represented in the Outcome Space. The shapes of Sugar Cone, Cake Cone, Waffle Cone, and Cup are placed
on the axes representing the two constructs: Alignment and Clarity of Future Possible Careers.