Italian female and male students’ choices: STEM studies and motivations

Abstract

Based on analysis of 2,192 responses to the open questions in the IRIS questionnaire concerning educational choice, this chapter describes the choices made by Italian students enrolled in science faculties, with a specific focus on gender differences. As discussed in Chap. 17, research on gender differences in educational choice risks masking diversity; in order to avoid this generalization we examined specific features of the motivations mentioned by students to highlight the main differences. Thematic analysis yielded seven interpretative dimensions in the students’ account of their educational choice; five dimensions relating to the expectancy-value model (see Chap. 2) and two dimensions relating to gender issues. The seven dimensions give a broad picture of discourse patterns used by students describing their choice of a science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) education.