Athena survey of science engineering and Technology (ASSET)

The surveys contain quantitative data on position, seniority, subject area, contract type, salary, career history and some demographics (age, gender, family status). In addition there were a range of open-ended questions relating to experiences of employment, expectations for careers and views on what leads to success. A significant part of the project was to undertake a coding exercise of all of the open-ended questions in the survey.

There are two SPSS data files – 4,282 in Higher Education and 2,444 in Research Institutes – covering 70/75 questions in HE and RI respectively from the survey. There are a further 300 variables, mostly indicator variables, which were derived in the quantitative and qualitative analysis.
This project investigates the career patterns of research scientists in the UK using data collected by the Athena Survey of Science Engineering and Technology. It aims to identify the factors associated with a successful career, and to examine why the experiences of men and women in the profession differ so significantly. Specifically, women take home only 80% of the earnings of their male counterparts and, though they account for a third of the country’s research scientists, compose only 2% of the highest grades. It compares the experience of researchers employed by three different types of organisation, universities, research institutes and industry, and will assess the impact of each on career opportunity, progression and pay.
The analysis of the factors determining pay and promotion will control for age, seniority, subject area and employer. It will utilise the descriptions that people give of their usual tasks and responsibilities, details of involvement in research projects, editing journals as indicators of productivity and prestige. This regression analysis will be supplemented by a qualitative analysis of what scientists report about their employment conditions and work environment, and how this has affected their career.
We find evidence that female scientists in the UK face glass ceilings both in terms of pay and promotion. Not only do women earn less because they are less likely to be promoted, they are also likely to earn less when they are employed within the same grades. Interestingly, the point at which women hit the glass ceiling depends upon institutions. In Universities the glass ceiling is thickest at the point of promotion from senior lecturer to professor, a typical glass ceiling, whereas in Research Institutes women seem to face disadvantage in obtaining promotion from scientist (post-doc) to senior scientist, perhaps better described as a sticky floor. In both cases, these are the most demanding promotions but ceteris paribus they are significantly more demanding for women.

本调研数据集包含与岗位职级、任职年限、学科领域、合同类型、薪酬、职业经历以及部分人口统计学信息（年龄、性别、家庭状况）相关的定量数据。此外，调研还设置了一系列开放式问题，涉及就业经历、职业期许以及对成功要素的看法。本项目的核心工作之一，是对调研中所有开放式问题开展编码工作。
本次研究包含两份SPSS格式数据集：分别覆盖高等教育（Higher Education, HE）领域的4282条样本、研究机构（Research Institutes, RI）领域的2444条样本，对应调研中70个和75个问题。此外，研究还衍生出300余个变量，其中以指示变量（indicator variables）为主，均来自定量分析（quantitative analysis）与定性分析（qualitative analysis）环节。
本项目依托《雅典娜科学工程与技术调研》（Athena Survey of Science Engineering and Technology）采集的数据，探究英国科研人员的职业发展模式。研究旨在识别与成功职业发展相关的影响因素，并解析为何该行业内男性与女性的职业体验存在显著差异。具体而言，女性科研人员的实际收入仅为男性同行的80%；尽管女性占英国科研人员总数的三分之一，但在最高职级中占比仅为2%。
研究对比了三类不同雇主（大学、研究机构与企业）聘用的科研人员的职业体验，并将评估不同雇主类型对职业机遇、晋升路径与薪酬水平的影响。
针对薪酬与晋升影响因素的分析，将控制年龄、任职年限、学科领域以及雇主类型等变量。研究将借助科研人员对自身日常工作任务与职责的描述、参与科研项目的细节，以及期刊编辑经历作为生产力与学术声望的衡量指标。本回归分析（regression analysis）将辅以定性分析（qualitative analysis），对科研人员所反馈的就业环境、工作条件及其对职业发展的影响展开探究。
研究发现，英国女性科研人员在薪酬与晋升两方面均面临玻璃天花板（glass ceiling）效应。女性不仅因晋升概率更低而收入更少，即便处于相同职级，其收入仍显著低于男性。值得注意的是，女性遭遇玻璃天花板的节点因雇主类型而异：在大学体系中，玻璃天花板效应最显著的环节是从高级讲师晋升为教授的阶段，属于典型的玻璃天花板场景；而在研究机构中，女性则在从科研人员（博士后）晋升为高级科研人员时面临劣势，这一现象更适合被描述为粘性天花板（sticky floor）。上述两类晋升均为难度最高的晋升通道，且在其他条件不变（ceteris paribus）的前提下，女性面临的晋升难度显著更高。