Success is a puzzle: Sorting out the pieces with metaphor analysis

Abstract

Women in physics continue to be an underrepresented group, in part due to negative stereotypes and adverse environments that result from a masculine perception of physics. To address this, we explore and highlight feminine perspectives of success in physics. We focus on success because the term is often used by researchers to frame academic achievements; however, not much work explores how different people conceptualize success. For this study we conducted semi-structured interviews of women at various stages of education and careers in physics. One interview question specifically elicited a participant-constructed metaphor of success in physics. The interview data was then examined with metaphor analysis for structural metaphors, which gives us insight into the characteristics of success that are salient to the individual. For example, with the metaphor of a caramel apple one participant highlighted the difficulty (through the apple's tartness) and overall satisfaction of physics (through the caramel's sweetness).