New York Times on the Web, September 23, 2005, Friday

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
The New York Times

September 23, 2005 Friday
New York Times on the Web

SECTION: Section A; Column 0; National Desk; Web Edition Only; Pg. 0

HEADLINE: Background: Reporting on the Aspirations of Young Women

BYLINE: By Louise Story.
Louise Story, an intern in the Times business section last summer, is now completing her M.B.A. at Yale.

BODY:
Some readers have asked about the reporting that went into the Sept. 20 article about the aspirations of women at Yale and other elite colleges. The reporter, Louise Story, explains.
It will be years before we will know how today's young women those in their late teens and twenties will make decisions about their careers, families and other life issues. While at Yale, I noticed that several of my friends were already thinking about their work and family plans. I wondered what other women thought.
About a year after I graduated from Yale, I decided to look further. By then a student at Columbia Journalism School, I worked with my professor, Sylvia Nasar, to refine my investigation. My intention as I told the people I interviewed was to produce an article to be published in a newspaper or magazine.
My first step was to read the academic literature, including work of top researchers on trends in women in the labor force: Claudia Goldin at Harvard, Francis Blau at Cornell, Sylvia Ann Hewlett, economists at the B.L.S., and others. I could not find any research on the aspirations of young women at elite schools.
I decided to start my investigation at Yale. Like any reporter I wanted to interview as many people as I could, and to hear what they thought at length, in detail. I wanted to make sure they carefully considered what they said so I wanted them to put it in writing. I designed a questionnaire that, avoiding yes and no questions, encouraged women to answer at any length.
Yale has 12 residential colleges, to which students are randomly assigned. To assure I was interviewing a random group, I chose two of those colleges. In late November of last year, I contacted all of the freshmen and senior women living there a group of 220. I sent them all about 20 questions and encouraged them to write as much as they wanted in response to each. The questions were personal. I asked about their career ambitions, family plans and backgrounds. I received answers that were often long and open. A little under half of the women who replied asked me not to use their names in anything I wrote.
I received, between late November and early February, 138 in-depth replies representing about 60 percent of all the women I contacted. I was impressed by the thoughtfulness that went into the first set of replies. After 45 responses had arrived, I added a few questions and re-sent the questionnaire to the women who hadn't yet replied. After two more mailings, 93 more responses had arrived, and the percentages of women saying they planned to stop working or work part time for at least a few years did not differ from the percentages of the first group of respondents.
The responses to the questionnaire were only the starting point. I followed up in many cases with additional questions. I then met with and interviewed dozens of women at Yale. I also called women at Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, as well as faculty members and administrators who have been on campus many years and would best be able to see changes in attitudes. I tracked down alumni surveys to see what earlier cohorts of Yale women actually did after graduation. I also kept going back to experts to run my findings and thoughts by them and to elicit their suggestions.
The women I interviewed were extremely generous with their time and open about their feelings. I hope that others carry my reporting further with more research. Theres a lot to be discussed and learned here.