Investigating high school student's STEM career chooses by gender: A meta analysis

The under-representation of women in the STEM field and the gender gap in this area has been a problem for years. The aim of this study is to reveal whether there is a gender difference in the STEM career preferences of high school students with the meta-analysis method. For this purpose, studies such as qualitative, quantitative, Turkish and English theses, articles and reports examining the STEM career choice of high school students between 2004-2021 were included in the research. Turkish and English studies including the concepts of "students, gender, meta-analysis"; It was searched in Web of Science, ERIC, YÖK Thesis Center, Google scholar, and Proquest electronic databases. Some criteria were determined while selecting the studies to be included in the meta-analysis. These are; These are criteria such as the fact that the studies were conducted between 2004 and 2021, and the standard deviation and mean values that include the STEM career preference of high school students. As a result, 305 studies were identified in the first scan, and a total of 16 studies were included in the meta-analysis, excluding studies that were prepared according to the PRISMA method, which were read in detail and prepared according to the criteria. Odds ratio was used to calculate the effect size of the studies obtained. Cochran Q statistics test and I² value were used to test the heterogeneity. Random effects model was used due to the heterogeneous structure. Funnel plot, Begg and Mazumdar correlation test, Egger regression test were used to examine the publication bias of the studies. As a result of the research, it was concluded that the gender variable was statistically significant in STEM career preference and that male students who chose a career in STEM fields were more than female students.