National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics

Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences

National Science Foundation

Measuring Sexual Harassment in the 

STEM Enterprise

Jennifer Beck

National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics

Elizabeth Richards, Anna Scolese, Marcus Maher, Rachel Walker-Kulzick

Fors Marsh Group

FCSM 

October 24, 2023
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics https://ncses.nsf.gov 2

1 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2018. Measuring the 21st Century Science and Engineering 

Workforce Population: Evolving Needs. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/24968.

RECOMMENDATION 3-6: The National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics should 

develop for the surveys core questions and a more in-depth module on harassment and 

discrimination.

“Discrimination and harassment have long been 

recognized as barriers to full participation and 

performance to full capacity in science and engineering 

fields, not only for women but also for minority groups 

in general, yet no high-quality national data are 

available that could advance understanding of the 

extent, nature, and implications of these phenomena.”1

Project Purpose
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Policies & 

Programs 

Design Measures & Collect 

Data 

Understand the Issue & Create 

Implementation Plan

Primary Goals: Gain an understanding of how sexual harassment operates in STEM, a 

variety of options for measuring sexual harassment, and the strengths and weaknesses 

associated with each option

Project Overview
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Detailed

Implementation Plan Literature Review Survey Review Focus Groups

Project Phases
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics https://ncses.nsf.gov 5

Detailed 

Implementation Plan Literature Review Survey Review Focus Groups

Project Phases
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics https://ncses.nsf.gov 6

Detailed 

Implementation Plan Literature Review Survey Review Focus Groups

Project Phases
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics https://ncses.nsf.gov 7

Detailed 

Implementation Plan Literature Review Survey Review Focus Groups

Project Phases
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics https://ncses.nsf.gov 8

Recommendation

Prioritize an intersectional approach when assessing sexual harassment and the reporting of 

sexual harassment by including measures assessing heterosexist harassment, racialized sexual 

harassment, and the reporting of these experiences.

Heterosexist 

Harassment

Racialized Sexual 

Harassment

Technology-Facilitated 

Harassment Reporting Behavior-Based 

Measures

Content Considerations 

Key Findings and Recommendations 
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Frequency Sensitivity Covering the STEM 

Pipeline

Survey-fielding Considerations 

Recommendations

• Target both STEM students and professionals at various stages (i.e., undergraduate, 

graduate, early-, mid-, late-career professionals) and ensure appropriate coverage of 

underrepresented groups in STEM.

• With a longitudinal design, fielding frequency should account for how experiences are 

expected to change within the population.

• Web- or paper-based surveys should be used due to sensitive nature of questions. 

Phone-assisted surveys should not be used.

• The survey should not originate from the institutions.

Key Findings and Recommendations 
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics https://ncses.nsf.gov

Policies & 

Programs 

Design & Test Measures 

Collect Data 

Understand the Issue & Create 

Implementation Plan

(Current Project) 

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• Continue the qualitative work to better understand factors that contribute to 

harassment (e.g., intersectionality). 

• Develop a core set of questions and module for NCSES surveys

• Test and refine questions across multiple surveys

• Ongoing data collection

Next steps
Questions?

Jen Beck: jbeck@nsf.gov

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