TABLE 3.
Chi-square tests showing a comparison between surveys submitted by students of any gender in the general population group who belonged to either historically well-represented (WR) or underrepresented (UR) racial/ethnic groups in sciencea
| Factor of interest | Item | Survey items | Percent of students who agreed or strongly agreed | Chi-square test (p values)b | Average and SEM | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total (n = 3055) | WR (n = 2204) | UR (n = 851) | WR (n = 2204) | UR (n = 851) | ||||
| Medical profession | 1 | I plan to attend a health-related professional school. | 70% | 69% | 72% | 0.001 | 3.84 ± 0.03 | 3.96 ± 0.03 |
| 2 | I am planning a pre-med course of study at Duke. | 68% | 67% | 70% | 0.450 | 3.75 ± 0.03 | 3.82 ± 0.03 | |
| 3 | I am not interested in pursuing a career in engineering.c | 71% | 68% | 77% | <0.001 | 3.78 ± 0.03 | 4.14 ± 0.03 | |
| 4 | I want a career in healthcare that involves working directly with patients.c | 73% | 74% | 73% | <0.001 | 4.04 ± 0.03 | 4.09 ± 0.03 | |
| 5 | A career with direct patient contact | 74% | 73% | 76% | 0.004 | 3.98 ± 0.05 | 4.07 ± 0.03 | |
| 6 | I plan to minor in chemistry. | 45% | 44% | 48% | 0.002 | 2.98 ± 0.03 | 3.08 ± 0.03 | |
| Graduate school | 7 | I plan to attend graduate school in the natural sciences. | 28% | 28% | 28% | 0.395 | 2.65 ± 0.02 | 2.67 ± 0.02 |
| 8 | I plan to attend graduate school in the biomedical sciences. | 28% | 29% | 24% | 0.012 | 2.63 ± 0.02 | 2.46 ± 0.02 | |
| 9 | I am interested in learning more about biomedical research. | 76% | 78% | 71% | <0.001 | 4.07 ± 0.02 | 3.87 ± 0.02 | |
| 10 | In the future, I would like to spend at least part of one summer conducting scientific research in a laboratory. | 79% | 80% | 76% | 0.007 | 4.23 ± 0.02 | 4.1 ± 0.02 | |
| 11 | I am interested in applying to MD/PhD programs to combine my interests in medicine research. | 46% | 47% | 43% | 0.003 | 3.14 ± 0.03 | 3.06 ± 0.03 | |
| 12 | I am interested in a career focused on scientific research. | 41% | 42% | 37% | <0.001 | 3.06 ± 0.02 | 2.87 ± 0.02 | |
| Laboratory scientific research | 13 | I already know what it is like to conduct scientific research in a laboratory. | 59% | 64% | 47% | <0.001 | 3.59 ± 0.03 | 3.10 ± 0.02 |
| 14 | Outside of the class, I have worked in a science laboratory conducting research. | 48% | 54% | 34% | <0.001 | 3.25 ± 0.03 | 2.54 ± 0.03 | |
| 15 | I will conduct laboratory research while attending Duke. | 84% | 86% | 79% | <0.001 | 4.39 ± 0.02 | 4.19 ± 0.02 | |
aPercentages indicate the proportion of students who agreed or strongly agreed. Averages are based on response ranges of 1–5 (where 1 = strongly disagree and 5 = strongly agree) for each item in the internal surveys administered to the control group.
bChi-square test p values are for differences between WR and UR subgroups within the general population group.
cSurvey values and statements were inverted to align sentiment of the factor of interest.