Defining a physics person: Tensions in the identity development of undergraduate women in physics

Abstract

This qualitative study explores how undergraduate women define what it means to be a physics person alongside how they describe their own physics identity. Our team analyzed 120 survey responses (97%, or 116 of the 120 respondents, identified as women or non-binary) to understand what factors are associated with an individual's physics identity. Those surveyed were attendees of Conferences for Undergraduate Women in Physics, who attended 88 unique institutions in 30 states. Our participants' conceptions of what it means to be a physics person fell into two themes: (1) people who are skilled academically and in research and (2) those who have an interest in physics ranging from an enjoyable interest to a life-devoting passion for the subject. When asked to explain their own physics identities, students responded through a personal and social lens more frequently than through an academic lens. Our analysis revealed three tensions in the development of undergraduate women's physics identity: (1) the tension between identifying entirely as a physics person and having other identities that are important to who they are, (2) the tension between the need for belonging in the physics community and their view of themselves as a physics person, and (3) the tension between their expectations of a physics person and their beliefs about their own abilities or interest.