WORKFORCE DATA ON QUANTITATIVE PREPARATION AND SKILLS OF EARLY CAREER GEOLOGISTS: PILOT RESULTS FROM THE GEOSCIENCE QUANTITATIVE PREPARATION SURVEY

Extant literature and studies are minimal regarding the quantitative skills of early career geologists, with existing data concentrating on either students or expert recommendations rather than the state of recent graduates. To address this shortfall, the Geoscience Quantitative Preparation Survey (GQPS) was designed and piloted to geologists 3-10 years removed from bachelor’s graduation with 3-7 years of related experience. The pilot iteration of the GQPS collected 178 responses in the target range with bachelor’s degrees from 115 undergraduate institutions. The GQPS asked these geologists their level of satisfaction with certain types of undergraduate preparation related to quantitative skills, as well as usage and confidence in quantitative skills and methods.

Results indicate that when taken as a group, these early career geologists are satisfied with quantitative problem-solving and quantitative communication skills taught at their undergraduate institutions. Their satisfaction was slightly higher for coursework in the geoscience department than elsewhere in the university. Results for satisfaction items on with computer preparation were inconclusive, possibly due to imprecision in the survey items. The GQPS could not be evaluated as a full instrument, but individual items were validated. Based on the distributions of responses to individual confidence items and the frequency of reported usage of quantitative skills and methods in work settings, the sample population was deemed to be geologically numerate. This set of results may serve as a baseline data set for future workforce studies.