A Comparison of Male and Female Student Issues that Affect Enrollment and Retention in Electronics Programs at a For-Profit Institution - Part II

Studying the enrollment and retention of electronics students could improve female enrollment and retention rates, which would help meet the future SMET work-force needs. This paper compared men and women in terms of approachability, concern, and fairness (ACF) of electronics professors and satisfaction with electronics programs. Surveys were administered to 576 students in electronics programs at a for-profit institution. The response rate was 63.9%. The study used 2times3 factorial ANOVAs. There was no statistically significant interaction between gender and program levels or main effects in regard to ACF of electronics professors. Also there was no significant interaction between gender and program levels in regard to satisfaction with electronics programs. Although there was no significant main effect of gender, there was a significant main effect of program level on satisfaction. Both genders at the beginning program level had significantly higher satisfaction ratings than at the middle and at the end program levels