Environmental and situational factors that impede or facilitate scientific productivity

Abstract

The major purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between demographic information, mentorship data, situational factors, job satisfaction and support systems, and the productivity of male and female scientists. Major questions of the study concerned the relationship between the variables investigated and productivity, differences between male and female responses, and variables which could be used to predict male and female productivity. To accomplish this purpose, a 36-item survey was developed to provide demographic and mentorship information, data regarding number of publications, and information about past and present physical and emotional support systems. The Science Citation Index was used to determine the number of times each subject was cited in the literature since 1974. The survey was mailed to 172 male and 172 female doctoral-level scientists who had graduated in the years 1973 to 1975 and who were currently employed in a college or university setting. A total of 225 surveys were returned, but only 149 were used in the data analyses. Biographical characteristics of the respondents and descriptive survey findings were discussed. The relationships between the previously mentioned variables and productivity were also analyzed by calculating Pearson product-moment correlations. For males, there were 12 significant relationships at the .001 level and for females, there were 21. Chi squares were calculated to determine differences between male and female responses with regard to the variables investigated. Significant differences were determined for five variables at the .001 level. Regression equations were calculated for males and females using postdoctoral articles and number of citations as the criterion variables. Results indicate that the variables investigated had a differential influence on male and female productivity. Results from the study indicate that various environmental and situational factors do have an impact on the productivity of male and female scientists. Findings suggest that some variables investigated had a greater influence on one sex than they did on the other. Further research is needed to delineate these relationships.