2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

A surge in research exploring Sense of belonging in STEM higher education reflects growing awareness of its significance among researchers. However, a gap exists between understanding the importance of SOB from research perspectives and the recognition of the need for its clear conceptualization and operationalization. This conceptual ambiguity poses substantial challenges for educators and researchers working to establish a coherent and comprehensive understanding of Sense of belonging in STEM higher education.

Notably, terms related to Sense of belonging are used sporadically and inconsistently across STEM higher education literature, with terms like "connectedness," "sense of community," and "perceived cohesion" often being used interchangeably. Additionally, much of the research on Sense of belonging in STEM higher education fails to consider the construct’s dimensionality, specifically, whether Sense of belonging is unidimensional or multidimensional. This is in contrast to the emerging discourse in higher education that emphasizes the importance of viewing SOB as a multifaceted construct comprising social, academic, environmental, and individual components. For instance, a study by Maghsoodi et al. (2023) examining an existing Sense of belonging scale with college students revealed a multidimensional structure of the SOB construct, including an academic component, findings consistent with Slaten's (2018) empirical study on the conceptual structure of undergraduate students' Sense of belonging. This lack of conceptual clarity has not only caused confusion among researchers but has also hindered progress in systematic reviews by complicating the identification of precise search keywords. Consequently, this has posed challenges in consolidating the research field.

To address the current need for a more comprehensive understanding of Sense of belonging within STEM higher education, this project aims to conduct a scoping review focused on 1) examining the landscape of Sense of belonging research and 2) identifying the essential attributes necessary for conceptualizing and operationalizing Sense of belonging in research (e.g., terminologies, definitions, dimensionalities, theoretical frameworks, etc.). A rigorous scoping review is currently being undertaken, according to the protocol formulated by researchers at The Joanna Briggs Institute, a distinguished group renowned for their work in systematic synthesis research. Our search strategy is designed to collect Sense of belonging literature from various fields of STEM disciplinary-based education research published within the last 30 years. We conducted data collection by searching electronic databases that primarily index educational and social science research (e.g., ERIC), psychological studies (e.g., APA PsycInfo), and engineering research (e.g., Engineering Village). We used Boolean operators developed through a pilot study. The abstract and full review are currently in progress, and we are applying the following inclusion criteria: 1) Empirical and conceptual studies investigating the phenomenon or the construct of Sense of belonging or its relevant concepts, 2) Studies may be published in peer or non-peer-reviewed journals or dissertations, or presented at STEM education conferences, and 3) The studies may be quantitative, qualitative, or mixed-methods research. The full paper will share a preliminary finding on the synthesized knowledge regarding terminology, definitions, and the dimensionality of Sense of belonging, which will inform the proposal of new research directions.