The STEM Faculty Instructional Barriers and Identity Survey (FIBIS): development and exploratory results

Abstract

Background: As institutions and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) departments emphasize faculty use of evidence-based instructional practices (EBIPs), various barriers and faculty perceptions hinder that process. While a large body of literature exists in this area, no survey instrument has been developed to comprehensively and systematically capture all these factors. We developed and piloted a survey instrument, the Faculty Instructional Barriers and Identity Survey (FIBIS), to delineate university STEM faculty perceptions of barriers to using EBIPs and examine the composition and sources of faculty professional identity, use of and dissatisfaction with these practices. Results: Initial pilot study results with a small, targeted sample (n = 69) shows how FIBIS can be used to understand factors that impact instructional practices. For our sample, we found that higher perceived departmental barriers and limited supports correlate with lower work identity. Even at a research university, we do not see a negative correlation between research and teaching identities; STEM faculty can have both, despite hypothesized tensions in the literature. We also found that sense of belonging and faculty community were descriptively higher for underrepresented minority than non-underrepresented minority faculty. As previous work has suggested, use of EBIPs varied by department. Finally, descriptive differences were seen in faculty barriers for those who were and were not satisfied with EBIPs. This suggests another layer to add to models of faculty decision-making regarding the use of EBIPs: dissatisfaction with implementing these practices once they are attempted. Further work is needed to confirm and understand these initial findings. Conclusions: Many of the exploratory findings from our pilot of FIBIS align with previous qualitative work, suggesting that FIBIS is a tool that can capture faculty identity, use of EBIPs, and barriers to instruction. While we do not intend to generalize our claims, the following suggestions for our institution may demonstrate how FIBIS can be used to try and reduce STEM faculty barriers to implementing EBIPs: (1) developing a strong teaching community (especially needed for persistence of faculty from underrepresented minorities), (2) helping faculty connect to the university as a whole, and (3) working with departments to better support implementation of EBIPs. The results presented and implications of these findings demonstrate the potential of FIBIS as a tool for examining factors that influence STEM faculty instructional practice. Future work includes further validating the FIBIS barriers component of the survey so that FIBIS can be used to identify and support change in institutions of higher education.