Inspired Research
Research Scaffolding Dr. Anne’s First Book!
Unexpected Pathways: The Journeys of Women in the Workforce
Dr. Anne Sourbeer Morris – 2015
Six-hundred eighty-six (686) women from fifty (50) states, the District of Columbia and women who have lived/worked in twenty (20) nations responded to the Unexpected Pathways Survey introduced in October 2012 to scaffold the Unexpected Pathways Project and to confirm or refute the hypothesis that women’s career journeys may be unexpected. All survey participants were self-selected, responding voluntarily to the Unexpected Pathways Survey.
As hypothesized, the majority of women who participated in this survey (63.99%) indicated that their career outcomes were unexpected. In other words, these women did not anticipate, at the beginning of their career to be where they currently find themselves in terms of their career journey. Despite the “unexpected” nature of the career journeys of the women responding to this survey, however, the majority (56.32%) of the respondents indicated that they were working in the field in which they were originally trained.
While the participants in this survey were geographically and generationally diverse and represented myriad career clusters, the survey results were not extensive enough to definitively state that women’s career pathways are “unexpected” in general. As the majority of seminal work on career development was focused on the career develop of men, it is the hope of the author that additional work on the career journeys of women will be undertaken by future researchers.
Survey data related to the women responding to the Unexpected Pathways Survey:
Career Field Expeceted or Unexpected
Working in Field Originally Trained
Doctoral Research Summary
Exploring Career and Technical Educators’ Attitudes: The Participation of Girls in Nontraditional Programs of Study
Dr. Anne Sourbeer Morris
Doctoral Dissertation – Executive Summary
Dr. Sourbeer Morris completed her five-year doctoral journey in 2011, with the publication of the dissertation Exploring Career and Technical Educator’s Attitudes: The Participation of Girls in Nontraditional Programs of Study. The Executive Summary provides an overview of the research. For additional information contact Anne at anne@futuresinspired.com
Click here for the Executive Summary in PDF format!
Feedback About Dr. Anne’s Study
April 2017
Good morning Dr. Morris,
While researching nontraditional jobs considered in demand, I recently found and reviewed your study/Dissertation Review, “Career and Technical Educator’s Attitudes: Girls Pursing Nontraditional Programs of Study” for the National Alliance for Partnerships in Equity. The research was very insightful and informative.
One aspect of my role at Wiregrass Georgia Technical College is recruitment/promotion or encouragement of students and potential students’ consideration to pursue nontraditional programs. Your research raised several points that I had not previously really considered.
The various surveys, provided in your study, were very helpful and informative as they reflect various influencers in nontraditional program selections. As views of occupations/professions continually change, there may someday be no professions/careers not dominated by a gender or simply “genderless” professional classification.
Again, your research was very informative.
Dr. Alvin Payton, Jr.
V.P. Community Affairs and Minority Recruitment
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