The National Longitudinal Study of Young Life Scientists: Career differentiation among a diverse group of biomedical PhD students
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Wood, Christine VJones, Remi F
Remich, Robin G
Caliendo, Anne E
Langford, Nicole C
Keller, Jill L
Campbell, Patricia B
McGee, Richard
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Univ Arizona, Coll MedIssue Date
2020-06-09
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Wood CV, Jones RF, Remich RG, Caliendo AE, Langford NC, Keller JL, et al. (2020) The National Longitudinal Study of Young Life Scientists: Career differentiation among a diverse group of biomedical PhD students. PLoS ONE 15 (6): e0234259. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pone.0234259Journal
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Copyright © 2020 Wood et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.Collection Information
This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at repository@u.library.arizona.edu.Abstract
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.Note
Open access journalISSN
1932-6203PubMed ID
32516342Version
Final published versionae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1371/journal.pone.0234259
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Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as Copyright © 2020 Wood et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.
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