Research in Engineering Education Symposium 2011 - rees2009

Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM) Página 652 de 957
Measuring Pupils’ Perceptions of Engineers: Validation of the Draw-an-Engineer
(DAET) Coding System with Interview Triangulation
Melissa Dyehouse, Oxana Kharchenko, Daphne Duncan, Johannes Strobel, Heidi
Diefes-Dux
mdyehous@purdue.edu , okharche@purdue.edu , dduncan@purdue.edu ,
jstrobel@purdue.edu , hdiefes@purdue.edu
Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
United States of America
Nicole Weber
nweber@lesley.edu
Lesley University, Cambridge, MA
United States of America
Abstract: The Draw-an-Engineer Test (DAET) measures pupils’ perceptions of
engineers and engineering. However, DAET data collection and analysis is
inefficient, relying heavily on associated interview data requiring additional
time and resources. The purpose of this study is to validate a comprehensive
coding system developed to be used as a stand-alone measure of pupils’
perceptions of engineering without an accompanying interview. Participants
were pupils ages 8-11 who completed the DAET and then interviewed. The study
had three phases: (1) interview analysis took place to identify areas for general
improvement; specifically, better DAET and interview alignment, (2) protocol
implementation guidelines established and comparable DAET questions were
written for the interview protocol to allow triangulation, and (3) coding results
for DAETs and interviews were compared to determine reliability. Drawings and
interviews matched 80% of the time, which provides evidence of validity for the
DAET coding system as a stand-alone measure of pupils’ engineering
perceptions.
Introduction and Background
The Draw-an-Engineer Test (DAET) is a commonly used and integral method to gather
information concerning pupils’ concepts and perceptions of engineers and engineering
(e.g., Capobianco, Diefes-Dux, Mena, & Waller, 2011; Fralick, Kearn, Thompson, & Lyons,
2008; Oware, 2008; Weber, Duncan, Dyehouse, Strobel, & Diefes-Dux, 2011). Though vital
to engineering education studies, particularly in primary education (children age 7-11),
the DAET data collection process, as it stands now, is cumbersome because its analysis
relies heavily on co-collected and analyzed interview data and drawings. Such data
collection requires large quantities of time and resources to provide complete information
about each pupil’s DAET. This resource-intensive method often leads to smaller than
desirable sample sizes.
Children’s drawings have been used in a variety of settings as a means of assessment and a
method of gathering information in a non-threatening way. Children’s drawings have been
used as an effective pre/post assessment (Bowker, 2007; Weber, 2008) to measure
Proceedings of Research in Engineering Education Symposium 2011
Madrid, 4 th - 7 th October 2011