Study title

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner. The Young People's STEM Aspirations and Trajectories, Age 15-19, 2013-2017 data were gathered as part of the ASPIRES 2 project. This was a five-year (2014-2019) mixed-methods project which investigated the science and career aspirations of young people in England from age 14 to 19 years. The study extended previous research (ASPIRES - see SN 9222) conducted with the same cohort of young people who had participated in the first project at ages 10-14. It comprised a quantitative online survey of the cohort and repeat (longitudinal) interviews with a selected sub-sample of students and their parents. Please note that this dataset comprises the quantitative (survey) data only, not the qualitative (interview) data.Survey data were collected at two time points: at the end of Key Stage 4/National GCSE exams (age 15/16, Year 11) and the end of Key Stage 5/College (age 17/18/19, Year 13 or equivalent). The surveys collected a range of demographic data (including gender, ethnicity and measures of cultural capital) and attitudinal data. Data gathered under the first ASPIRES project, when participants were aged 10-14 years, are held under SN 9222. Data gathered under the subsequent ASPIRES 3 project, when participants were aged 20-22 years, are held under SN 9224.Main Topics:Topics included aspirations in science, attitudes towards school and science, self-concept in science, images of scientists, participation in science-related activities outside of school, parental attitudes towards science, career education, work experience, and post-16 choices. Most questions used a five-point Likert-type scale to elicit attitudinal responses. Response options were on a five-point scale from ‘strongly agree’ to ‘strongly disagree’ with ‘neither agree nor disagree’ as a midpoint. The dataset is a study of the cohort and is not tracked or longitudinal.