Development of a RIASEC-based model to analyse students’ perceptions of the work of nuclear- and astrophysicists

Abstract

There are many stereotypical beliefs about the work of scientists among students. These can lead to a lack of interest and ill-considered career choices. This paper aims to shed more light on the everyday work of researchers in physics. To this end, an interview study (N=12) and a questionnaire study (N=66) were conducted among physicists in a Collaborative Research Centre for nuclear- and astrophysics in order to determine the physicists’ activity profiles using an adapted RIASEC+N model based on the theory of vocational choices by Holland. As a result, activities from all seven RIASEC+N dimensions were found, highlighting the broad spectrum of activities in modern physics research. However, with respect to the significance of each dimension, we found that the activity profiles of doctoral students and professors in general, as well as their profiles in theoretical and experimental groups differ particularly within the Realistic, Conventional and Investigative dimension. In the future, these results will be used to develop an outreach programme to give students an authentic insight into modern physics. Additionally, the activity profiles could serve as a reference for addressing stereotypes in school.