The incident effects on engineers and engineering technologists in pursuit of a graduate degree

This dissertation describes the critical incident study performed on 66 practicing professional engineers and technologists in public and private organizations within the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas metropolitan area who were enrolled in part time graduate education in 1996 and 1997. The study served three purposes: to identify critical incidents that motivate professional engineers and technologists to seek a graduate degree; to identify the critical incidents that motivate graduate student's curriculum choice; and to identify other factors that foster an engineer or technologist's decision to pursue a graduate education. The study addressed three research questions: What are the critical incidents that motivate some professional engineers and engineering technologists to seek graduate studies? What are the critical incidents that influence professional engineers and technologists to choose a curriculum in engineering, technology, or another discipline? What are the other factors that exist that influence professional engineers or technologists to pursue a chosen graduate field of study? The significance of the study is for academia to find ways to encourage US students into engineering and engineering technology graduate programs and for business management to find means to retain professional engineers and engineering technologists in the workforce by understanding why these professionals choose to pursue graduate studies. The methodology the study used was the Critical Incident Technique developed by John C. Flanagan. Data were gathered through a Critical Incident Pamphlet and data analyses were performed through a Q-sort procedure. The data analyses showed the largest respondent group was 31 to 35 years old, Caucasian/White, and male; graduated in the 1980s in electrical engineering; and now pursuing graduate studies in computer science, for career development. The findings, conclusions, and the implications of the study are discussed. Recommendations are offered as an extension of the findings and conclusions.