A Narrative Inquiry Kathryn Ledford Clemson University, [email protected]
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Clemson University TigerPrints All Dissertations Dissertations 12-2012 Navigating the World of Academia as a Mother and Contingent Faculty Member: A Narrative Inquiry Kathryn Ledford Clemson University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_dissertations Part of the Educational Leadership Commons Recommended Citation Ledford, Kathryn, "Navigating the World of Academia as a Mother and Contingent Faculty Member: A Narrative Inquiry" (2012). All Dissertations. 1029. https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_dissertations/1029 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations at TigerPrints. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TigerPrints. For more information, please contact [email protected]. NAVIGATING THE WORLD OF ACADEMIA AS A MOTHER AND A CONTINGENT FACULTY MEMBER: A NARRATIVE INQUIRY A Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School of Clemson University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Educational Leadership by Kathryn Fair Ledford December 2012 Accepted by: Dr. Pamela A. Havice, Committee Chair Dr. Curtis Brewer Dr. Tony Cawthon Dr. David Fleming i ABSTRACT Although women hold many professional positions, they are still held accountable to present gendered customs like parenting children. Additionally, women who work in higher education are surrounded by masculine norms. For academic women who are also mothers like the author, many obstacles confront their management of the interlocking spheres of home, work and self. An examination of these women’s narratives will illuminate how women navigate the world of academia, while maintaining our roles as mothers and individual identities. For women who are mothers of children under six years old, and who are also contingent faculty members at four-year institutions, both policies and literature in higher education provide scant support for faculty work and mothering. This dissertation aims to add layers to existing research and open the doors for additional research. An overarching feminist framework was used to show how mothers make meaning of the world around them. ii DEDICATION To Jeremy, Harper and Beckett . iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page TITLE PAGE .................................................................................................................... i ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... ii DEDICATION ................................................................................................................ iii CHAPTER I. NATURE OF THE PROBLEM..................................................................... 1 Nature of the Problem .............................................................................. 1 Statement of the Problem ......................................................................... 4 Purpose of the Study ................................................................................ 5 Research Questions .................................................................................. 5 Theoretical Framework ............................................................................ 7 Research Design and Methodology ......................................................... 7 Significance of the Study ....................................................................... 10 Limitations ............................................................................................. 11 Definition of Terms................................................................................ 12 Organization of the Study ...................................................................... 13 II. LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................ 14 Research Questions ................................................................................ 16 Women and Work .................................................................................. 16 Women Working in Academia .............................................................. 20 Mothers Working in Academia .............................................................. 27 Theoretical and Conceptual Framework ................................................ 33 Significance of the Study and Future Methodologies ............................ 39 iv Table of Contents (Continued) Page III. METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................... 40 Introduction ............................................................................................ 40 Study Design and Research Paradigm ................................................... 40 Research Questions ................................................................................ 50 Sample Selection .................................................................................... 51 Interview Protocol .................................................................................. 52 Data Analysis ......................................................................................... 58 Researcher’s Role and Assumptions ...................................................... 61 Summary of Autoethnography ............................................................... 62 Quality in Narrative Inquiry ................................................................... 65 Chapter Summary .................................................................................. 71 IV. PILOT STUDY ............................................................................................ 72 Introduction ............................................................................................ 72 Sample Design and Recruitment ............................................................ 73 Participants ............................................................................................. 75 Data Analysis ......................................................................................... 76 Findings.................................................................................................. 78 Conclusion and Planned Changes .......................................................... 91 V. FINDINGS ................................................................................................... 94 Introduction ............................................................................................ 94 Home ...................................................................................................... 97 Work .................................................................................................... 139 Self ....................................................................................................... 170 VI. LIMITATIONS AND IMPLICATIONS ................................................... 190 Introduction .......................................................................................... 190 Limitations ........................................................................................... 190 Implications.......................................................................................... 195 Intersections ......................................................................................... 200 Components of Narrative Inquiry ........................................................ 204 Chapter Summary ................................................................................ 208 v Table of Contents (Continued) Page APPENDICES ............................................................................................................. 210 A: Researcher’s Autoenthnography ................................................................ 211 B: Individual Interview One Protocol ............................................................. 220 C: Individual Interview Two Protocol ............................................................ 222 D: Individual Interview Three Protocol .......................................................... 224 E: IRB Approval for Pilot Study Two ............................................................ 226 F: Query Letter ............................................................................................... 228 G: Table of Participant Description ................................................................ 229 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................ 230 vi CHAPTER ONE NATURE OF THE PROBLEM “Although men also need to combine work and family, women are the ones who bear the physical and cultural demands of parenting most heavily, and so theirs were the stories we sought” (Evans & Grant, 2008, p. xxiii). Chapter one outlines the six chapters of the dissertation. The chapter presents an argument about why there is a problem within higher education that warranted research. Additionally, the chapter highlights how there is a gap in the literature that could be filled through the study. The purpose of the study is then presented with the subsequent research questions, which were answered through the research design including the theoretical framework and the methodology. The purpose of the study’s significance is included and the limitations that were encountered. Finally, a definition of relevant terms was presented. Nature of the Problem In the past 50 years, women have been entering