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College major decision making of autistic students

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College major decision making of autistic students

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College Major Decision Making of Autistic Students
by

Sheryl Lynn Moore Dohm

A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

December 2022

Copyright 2022 Sheryl Lynn Moore Dohm

ii
Dedication
To my husband and daughter. You are both amazing, and I love you.

iii
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my gratitude to my committee-chair, Dr. Tambascia and
committee members Dr. Green and Dr. Hattori. I would also like to take this opportunity to
thank the participants of this study. To all, thank you for taking this journey with me.
This study was conducted with University of Southern California IRB approval, and the
study identification number is UP-20-00818. Future communications about this study can be
sent to sheryl.dohm@chaminade.edu

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Table of Contents
Dedication ii
Acknowledgements iii
List of Tables vi
List of Figures vii
Abstract viii
Chapter One: Overview of The Study 1
Statement of the Problem 2
Purpose of the Study 3
Significance of the Study 3
Limitations, Delimitations, and Assumptions 4
Definition of Terms 5
Conclusion 6
Chapter Two: Literature Review 7
Disability Rights Movement 8
A Brief History of Autism 12
College Major Selection Structure 15
Educational Environment for Autistic College Students 18
Social Model - ‘Education’ Repertoire Theoretical Framework 21
Conclusion 23
Chapter Three: Methodology 24
Methodology: Single Case Study with an Embedded Unit 24
Population, Samples, and Document Analysis 25
Instrumentation 28
Data Collection and Storage 30
Data Analysis 31
Validity 33
Role of Researcher 34
Chapter Four: Data and Themes 35
Online Questionnaire 36
Emerging Themes 39
Accessing Student Services 51
Document Analysis 54
Conclusion 57

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Chapter Five: Analysis of Findings. Recommendations for Practice and
Future Research 58
Analysis of the Findings 59
Social Construct Model - ‘Education’ Repertoire Theoretical Framework 65
Implications 67
Recommendations for Practice 68
Recommendations for Future Research 71
Conclusion 72

References 74
Appendices 85
Appendix A: Request to Access Online Community 85
Appendix B: Invitation to Online Community Members 86
Appendix C: Pre-Screen Survey and Data Collection Protocol:
Electronic Questionnaire for Online Community Members 88
Appendix D: Institutional Review Board Info Sheet for
Online Community 91
Appendix E: Follow Up, Second Tier Data Collection Protocol:
Electronic Questionnaire for Online Community Members 93
Appendix F: Data Collection Protocol:
Document Analysis of Published Material 94

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List of Tables
Table 1: Questionnaire Items Cross-Referenced to Literature Review 29
Table 2: College Majors of Participants 37
Table 3: Number of Participants in CIP Academic Discipline 38
Table 4: Artifacts for Document Analysis 55
Table 5: College Major Selection Criteria: Present Study Findings
and Literature Alignment 61

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List of Figures
Figure 1: Theoretical Framework 22
Figure 2: Emergent Themes from Data Analysis of Online Questionnaire 39

viii
Abstract
This qualitative case study examined how autistic students select their college major, looking
specifically at criteria and resources they used. College graduates with autism responded to
open-ended questions on an online questionnaire. A document analysis of published works of
autistic authors was undertaken to collect additional data. The theoretical framework for this
study was a combination of the social construct model of disabilities and the education
repertoire of autism identity development. Findings are solely based on the voices of autistic
individuals. Recommendations for improving support for college students with autism in their
college major include having inclusive and responsive programs that encourage utilization of
campus career services, and the need to foster a sense of purpose for students through
community advocacy in college major selection. Findings also support the recommendation
that autistic-centered student organizations, and robust online guides, should be provided by
the university.

1
Chapter One: Overview of The Study
Individuals with physical and non-physical disabilities or limitations are among the last
marginalized groups in the United States of America to obtain a legal right to an education
(Evans et al., 2017). The legal right to an education was obtained when Section 504 of the
Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973 was signed into law (Fleischer & Zames, 2012). The
signing of Section 504 was finally achieved after groups of individuals with disabilities staged
a 28-day sit-in protest located in 11 cities across the United States (Evan et al., 2017). Section
504 created unprecedented accountability for institutions of higher education to accommodate
individuals with disabilities (Evans et al., 2017).
One form of accountability was that institutions of higher education could no longer
practice ableism as criteria for college admission (Evans et al., 2017). Ableism refers to the
socially and legally acceptable denial of rights to persons with disabilities (Griffin et al. 2007),
such as the right to an education (Fleischer & Zames, 2012). The passing of the Americans
with Disabilities Act Amendments Act, ADA, 2008 further abolished the practice of ableism in
the design of educational environments (Fleischer & Zames, 2012).
The disability concept, from legal and moral perspectives and the terms used to
describe the concept, have changed radically, both historically, and since the Vocational
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Evans et al, 2017). Much of the discussion in this study was
informed by the seminal work, Disability in Higher Education (Evans et al., 2017). Evans’
work also contributed to another seminal work, Student Development in College: Theory,
Research, and Practice (L. D. Patton et al., 2016), which is considered an authoritative voice on
student development theory in higher education. While the definition of disability used in this
study is elaborated in the subsection, Social Justice Approach to Disabilities, the key impact of

2
the definition used for this study is that, under the social justice model, deficiencies are located
in the environment, not within individuals (L. D. Patton et al., 2016). In other words, to
accommodate an individual with a disability, it is the environment that should be changed.
However, research into the understanding of the educational needs of students with disabilities
is emergent, in comparison to other marginalized groups (L. D. Patton et al., 2016).
Individuals with disabilities have a legal right to an education (Fleischer & Zames,
2012). The Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act, ADA, 2008 provides limited
guidance on how universities can support autistic students. Further, the American Phycological
Association’s (2013) Diagnosis and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM-5)
offers few specific accommodations for individuals with autism. However, the lack of specific
guidance points to an opportunity and need for education researchers to develop programs that
can be individualized to service the wide variety of students’ needs. Universal Design for
Learning program is one example of the response by education researchers to provide
guidance.
Statement of the Problem
College graduates with autism are underemployed. Selecting the best-fit college major
is a critical factor in career success (Espinosa, 2011; Jacob et al., 2015; Perez et al., 2014).
Galotti (1999) recommends that students engage in the broadest college major selection
structure. The barriers and challenges autistic students experience may influence their choice
of major while in college, which in turn may contribute to their underemployment. Primarily
research indicates that students may be underutilizing campus career services or centers (Briel
& Getzel, 2014; Farrow, 2016). While the economics of employment opportunities are not part
of the college environment, how students choose majors is a function, in part, of the college

3
environment and therefore provides opportunity through informed changes to pedagogy and
policy, to help students with autism select their college majors.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 19% of individuals with disabilities are
employed, compared to 66% employment among individuals without a disability (U. S. Bureau
of Labor Statistics [BLS], 2020). And unemployment rates for individuals with disabilities are
higher than individuals without a disability, regardless of educational attainment (BLS, 2020).
Existing research indicates there is variation between groups of students and between
individuals related to how college majors are selected (Galotti, 1999). According to Briel and
Getzel (2014) and Farrow (2016), research that pertains to understanding how autistic students
select their college major is emergent and needs immediate attention. This research gap creates
a blind spot for campus service programs, in particular, in academic services and career
development. In other words, campus services lack the research-based understanding of how to
accommodate the career advising needs of students with autism, as a group and as individuals.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this case study is to help better understand how recent autistic college
graduates selected their college majors. Accordingly, the research question for this is how do
autistic college graduates describe their decision-making for college major selection?
Significance of the Study
This study contributes to the research on how autistic college students select their
major. The design of this case study provides a route for direct communication from recent
Autistic students to college student services. Career services recognize that Universal Design
for Learning (UDL) needs to be incorporated into student services programming (Miele et al.,
2018). A key feature of UDL is the flexibility to adapt to individual needs of all college

4
students. The findings of the study can be used to incorporate flexibility into programming to
better serve present and future students with autism seeking career counseling. Thus, Career
Service policy and programming will be better informed about how Autistic students decide
their majors. The criteria and resources students use will be better understood. Moreover, the
findings from this study account for college major selection, not only for students with autism
as a group but, also as autistic individuals. The findings of this study may not conclude that
changes are needed, but indeed, these findings may be used to enhance or augment how
autistic students are already guided by career services while selecting their major.
Limitations, Delimitations, and Assumptions
This section addresses limitations, delimitations, and assumptions that arose during the
design phase of this study.
Limitations
The data collection instrument for this study is an online questionnaire. A written
questionnaire has the risk of providing shallow data (M.P. Patton, 2015). Shallow data is a
limitation to qualitative studies that use written questionaries (M. P. Patton, 2015) can be a
threat to validity. In studies with a risk shallow data due to the instrument, larger sample sizes
obtain more in-depth data (M. P. Patton, 2015). Qualitative researchers use tools, such as,
larger sample sizes, triangulation, and member checking to increase the data collection
instrument validity (Creswell, 2017; M.P. Patton, 2015). The sample size for this qualitative
study was 30, rather than to typical case study sample size of five (Yin, 2014).
This study triangulated data from online community members with existing narratives.
Also, this study employed member checking by inviting participants to review the summary of

5
their responses. Each participant was asked whether the summary reflected their intended
responses or if they wanted to expound on an answer.
Delimitations
Participants for this study were four-year autistic college graduates that have decided
on a career path. The study did not include individuals who did not graduated from college or
did not identify with having autism.
Assumptions
It is assumed that most participants encountered misconceptions and stereotypes about
autism during college. This assumption was based on literature research findings as well as the
professional experience and observations of the author of this study.
Definition of Terms
Ableism — The socially and legally acceptable denial of rights to persons with disabilities,
such as the right to an education
Autistic participant, individual, or student: Participant, student or individual with autism —
The use of both phases recognizes that some individuals prefer an identity-first description
while others prefer person-first descriptions. According to the American Phycological
Association (2020) Publication Manual (7th ed.), bias-free language guideline, studies should
describe groups of people with the language preferred by the members of the group. An article
published on the Autistic Self Advocacy Network website suggest some members prefer to be
described as an autistic individual and some members prefer to be described as an individual
with autism (L. Brown, 2022). This study attempted to use a balanced mix of both identity-first
(autistic individual/graduate/ participant/person/student) and person-first (individual/graduate/

6
participant/person/student with autism) to honor all members of the autistic community, which
was the approach also taken by L. D. Patton (2016).
Career Services/Advising/Center — A college department, office, or individual that is
available to students for assistance when selecting college majors.
Marginalized groups — Groups of individuals of females, non-Whites, immigrants, gay, or
those with disabilities.
Social Construct Approach to Disability — Physical and non-physical limitations are within a
setting, space, or environment, not within an individual. Thus, the settings, space, or
environment must be changed, not an individual.
Social Justice Model —Under this model, it is accepted that the dominant group has actively
marginalized those with disabilities.
Conclusion
Autistic students may experience barriers and challenges with their college major choice,
which may contribute to their underemployment. The purpose of this phenomenological study
was to help better understand how recent college graduates with autism selected their college
majors. The findings of this study can help campus career services have a more complete idea of
the overall structure that autistic students select their majors.
The following chapter contains the literature review that informs the design of the
instrument and defines the theoretical framework for this study. The literature review first
discusses changes to the use of the definition of autism to frame research. Then research used to
inform the data collection instrument is discussed. The last section of the literature review
describes the theoretical framework, followed by a discussion of how the framework was used to
design the data collection instrument and data analysis.

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Chapter Two: Literature Review
The purpose of this case study was to increase understanding of how autistic students
choose their college majors. The research question guiding this study was as follows: how do
college graduates on the autistic spectrum describe their decision-making for college major
selection? The findings of the study may help improve college career development services to
serve a more diverse group of students.
Among the key elements of a case study are the participants, the phenomenon, and the
context in which the participants experience a phenomenon (Baxter & Jack, 2008). The
participants were autistic college graduates. The phenomenon is college major selection of
students with autism. The context is the college environment. The following literature review
discusses these three elements.
The literature review is organized as follows: a chronology of the disability rights
movement describes the legal and dispositional changes that lead to the inclusion of
individuals with disabilities in educational settings with the utilization of Universal Learning
Design. Following the chronology, is a review of how autism is defined in research literature
along with statistics, demographics, and enrollment trends of college students on the autistic
spectrum. A key finding is that enrollment trends do not provide a complete understanding of
how students select their college majors. Instead, the key variables for this study are based on
findings of research that describes a college major selection structure. The selection structure is
comprised of criteria and resources to inform the criteria. This section is concluded with a
discussion of what emergent research indicates as the criteria and resources utilized by college
students with autism. Lastly, the theoretical framework for this study offers a description of

8
how this study utilizes autistic individuals’ voices to inform how an educational setting can be
changed to better meet the educational need of autistic individuals.
Disability Rights Movement
Although ableism was being perpetuated in the court system (Evans et al. 2017), the
Civil Rights Movement is recognized as an essential catalyst for the disability’s rights
movement and the important historic events that followed: the passing of the Vocational
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (VRA), signing of Section 504 of the VRA in 1977, the Americans
with Disabilities Act of 1990, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (Fleischer & Zames,
2012). For the rest of this study, the acronym ADA refers collectively to the American with
Disabilities Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act.
The passage of the VRA in 1973 made it illegal for educational organizations to
discriminate against individuals with disabilities. Although a step in the right direction, the
VRA lacked enforcement language. One fear articulated by political groups was that creating
accommodations would exceed the federal budget (Fleischer & Zames, 2012). The act
remained unenforceable for four years until the signing of Section 504 of the VRA in 1977.
The signing took place after a 28-day federal building sit-in by activists to protest the unsigned
section.
Notably, in an emergency congressional hearing prior to the signing of Section 504,
lawmakers proposed that ‘separate but equal’ educational facilities should be provided to the
disability communities (Evans et al., 2017). This argument contained discriminatory language
toward individuals with disabilities, which, 24 years prior, had been made famously illegal
towards African Americans by the US Supreme court case Brown v. Board of Education of
Topeka (1954). As a result of the emergency hearings the wording ‘separate but equal’ was not

9
included in Section 504. Thus, the signing of Section 504 was equivalent to the Brown v.
Board of Education court case for individuals with disabilities (Fleischer & Zames, 2012).
The signing of Section 504 made organizations that receive federal funds legally
accountable for discrimination against individuals with disabilities (Fleischer & Zames, 2012).
The ADA extended accountability to all organizations, public and private, for-profit, and non-
profit alike (ADA, 2008). And importantly, the act contains language that recognized that the
US court system had not provided a place for individuals with disabilities to protect or gain
their civil rights (ADA, 2008). Therefore, without the intervention of VRA and ADA, the court
system would have continued to perpetuate ableism.
Social Justice Approach to Disabilities
While ableism refers to systemic discrimination against an individual with a disability
(Griffin et al., 2007), the understanding of what is meant by disability has evolved (Evans et
al., 2017; L. D. Patton et al., 2016). The definition of disability hinges on the location of the
disability itself: within an individual or within the environment of the individual (L. D. Patton
et al., 2016). Historically, the location of a disability is within an individual, the medical model
approach to disability (L. D. Patton et al., 2016). Under the medical approach, an individual
has a flaw or disability that needs to be corrected or fixed so that the individual can be
accepted and function in society (Evans et al., 2017). In contrast, a social justice model
approach places the disability within the ableism-based design of a setting, space, or
environment; the environment needs to be changed (Evans et al., 2017). In accordance with
ADA (2008), environment limitations may include both the restrictive physical design as well
as non-physical elements, such as negative perceptions and attitudes about disabilities held by,
for example, students or staff in an educational setting. For the remainder of this study, the

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term disability refers to the social justice approach, defined by Evans et al. (2017) and called
for by ADA (2008).
ADA Accommodations
To improve the physical elements of environments for those with disabilities, ADA
(2008) attempts to provide clearly defined physical accommodations organizations must offer,
including wheel-chair ramps at bus stops, curbside, and building entrances, Braille signage,
and a host of others. To improve the non-physical elements, ADA (2008) also includes
accommodations in places of learning and thinking, including quiet places to take exams,
extended time for assignment completion, and preferred classroom seating. While the list of
physical accommodations has grown since ADA 1990, the list of thinking and learning
accommodations have remained largely unchanged (Evans et al, 2017). And further, thinking
and learning accommodations for individuals with non-physical disabilities, such as autism, are
intentionally the least specified in the American Phycological Association’s (2013) Diagnosis
and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM-5), “provisions of services … can
only be developed at an individual level” (p. 51).
The DSM-5 offers almost no specific accommodations for autistic individuals. The
reason provided in DSM-5 is that accommodation needs for autistic individuals can be specific
to the individual, and a defined list would be too restrictive (American Phycological
Association, 2013). The wording of DSM-5 may have intended to provide flexibility to
individualize accommodations for students with autism. However, the lack of specific
language provides little guidance and, therefore, little accountability to colleges to
accommodate autistic individuals, beyond the minimum ADA requirement of a quiet place to
take exams and extended time to complete assignments. However, the lack of specific

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guidance also is supportive for education researchers to develop programs that can be
individualized to service the wide variety of students’ needs, such as Universal Design for
Learning.
Universal Design for Learning
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) has supplemented accommodations beyond the
bare minimum legal ADA requirements (Meyer et al., 2014). Use of UDL does not serve as an
alternative to the instructions provided in accommodation letters distributed by any college
campus ADA accommodation coordinator.) Even the founders of UDL, like ADA, recognize
that some disabilities are not served well by providing a finite list of accommodations (Meyer
et al., 2014). At one point, a great deal of research resources was used to cure autism (Orsini,
2012). Now, there is an emphasis to accept autism, along with all other disabilities, as a
natural, necessary, and valuable variation of the human condition (Orsini, 2012). To make
room for further understanding of autism, UDL needs to provide flexibility to accommodate
the diverse needs of autistic students. (Meyer et al., 2014). And further, UDL is being extended
into student services, such as advising and career counseling (K. R. Brown, 2017; Taylor &
Colvin, 2013). Like classroom instruction, career counseling approaches need to be flexible to
serve the wide variety of needs that students have. However, campus career counseling offices
are underutilized by autistic students (Briel & Getzel, 2014; Farrow, 2016).
The principles of UDL applied to the classroom also hold promise to inform student
career service program development. Providing flexible approaches to teaching and learning,
even for specific groups, a greater number of students benefit (Miele et al., 2018). Flexible
approaches, if applied to academic and non-academic departments, can help create a culture of
willingness to support the needs of students (K. R. Brown, 2017). If students on the spectrum

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feel supported by the faculty, staff, and administrators, then they are more likely to take part in
a broader range of campus services and activities (Taylor & Colvin, 2013). This study will help
inform UDL-based campus career services program development by providing
recommendations on how to create a culture of ness to support students with disabilities.
A Brief History of Autism
Currently, autism spectrum disorder is listed in the American Phycological
Association’s (2013) Diagnosis and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM-5)
as an umbrella term for what were previously distinct diagnoses: “infantile autism, childhood
autism, Kanner’s autism, high-functioning autism, atypical autism, pervasive developmental
disorder not otherwise specified, childhood disintegrative disorder, and Asperger’s disorder”
(p. 53). In other words, what were separate diagnoses in previous DSM-III and DSM-IV are
now a single diagnosis of autism, also referred to autism spectrum disorder, in the DSM-V
(Kroncke et al., 2016). DSM-V defines autism spectrum disorder as follows:
Characterized by persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction
across multiple contexts, including deficits in social reciprocity, nonverbal
communicative behaviors used in social interaction, and skills in developing,
maintaining, and understanding relations…diagnosis requires the presence of restricted,
repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities. (American Phycological
Association, 2013, p. 31)
Autism and Asperger’s Appearance in Research Literature
In the early 1940s, some forty years before its appearance in DSM-III, the term autism
began to appear in scholarly articles by Leo Kanner at John Hopkins University. Similarly, it

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was many decades after the initial descriptions of what became known as Asperger’s
(Barahona-Correa & Filipe, 2016), before the condition was recognized in DSM-IV (1994).
Autism Demographics and Statistics
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1 in 59 children
has autism (Baio et al., 2018). As of 2020, there were an estimated 82 million children between
the ages of 0-19 in the United States (Duffin, 2021). Thus, approximately 1.4 million children
between ages of 0-19, in the United States, may have autism. Autism occurs in all ethnic,
racial, and socioeconomic status (SES) groups (Baio et al., 2018). However, 75% of autism
diagnoses are boys, and 7%-22% greater among white than Hispanic and African American
children, respectfully (Baio et al., 2018). Diagnosis of autism has been challenged as being
biased toward white males, with higher SES (Durkin et al., 2010; Jo et al., 2011; Kreiser &
White, 2014).
College-Age
While the exact number is unknown, an estimate of autistic college students can be
made from statistics provided by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and
other resources. About 2.2 million (11%) of students enrolled in college have been identified
with a disability (NCES, 2016). According to research using data from the US. Department of
Education, Institute of Special Education, National Longitudinal Transitional Study-2
(NLTS2), and the National Institution of Health 2011 Survey of Pathways to Diagnosis and
Services, of the 50,000 high school students identified with autism, approximately 20,000
(40%) enroll in college each year (Raue & Lewis, 2011). About 80,000 students with autism
are enrolled in postsecondary education, which is four percent of all students with disabilities.

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Enrollment Trends of Autistic College Students
About 34% of college students with autism begin college in a science, technology
engineering, and mathematics-related (STEM) major (Wei et al., 2013). Wei et al. established
this percentage from a meta-analysis of a U.S. Department of Education-funded, National
Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2). NLTS2 was a ten-year longitudinal study (n =
11,000), designed with the intent to gain a better understanding of the transition from
childhood to young adulthood for students with disabilities (National Center for Special
Education Research, n.d.). While the NLTS2 study included students from a wide range of
disabilities, the Wei et al. (2013) study focused only on the autistic participants (n = 660).
However, a limitation to the study, identified by Wei et al. (2013), was that graduation rates
could not have been measured from the NSTL2 data. Therefore, from Wei et al (2013) study, it
is not known what percent of participants with autism graduated in STEM or non-STEM
majors. By extension, it is possible that some of the participants may have changed their major
before graduation. Importantly, the Wei et al. (2013) study, helped gain an understanding of
how 34% of the students with autism selected their STEM major or the remaining 66% of the
autistic students selected their non-STEM major.
Based on the conclusion of Wei et al. (2013) a study by Gelbar et al. (2015) was
conducted to further examine the college experiences of students with autism. For this study,
students with autism (n = 35) were surveyed online. An unexpected finding from the
demographic portion of the survey was that autistic students did not necessarily select STEM
majors: Fifty-two percent of respondents in this study were oriented toward liberal art majors
(Gelbar et al., 2015).

15
The Gelbar et al. (2015) study was based on a smaller sample size, and respondents
were drawn from a different population. Therefore, the Gerber et al. (2015) study may not be
inconsistent with Wei et al (2103); for example, if subsets of students from the Wei et al. study
were scored for major preference it would not be unexpected to find some sets with non-STEM
major preference while the larger dataset, as a whole, indicates STEM preference. However,
the different conclusions of the Gelbar et al. (2015) study do illustrate that assuming autistic
students generally prefer STEM may obscure the diversity of choice for college majors by
students with autism.
Enrollment trends may help inform the decision of allocation of resources to support
students with autism (Wei et al., 2013). However, enrollment numbers alone are not enough to
understand how autistic students select their college major. And researchers should be cautious
about building studies on assumptions that all students with autism have a preference for any
particular major (Gelbar et al., 2015). Thus, resource allocation for supporting autistic students
will be more effective if how and why college majors are selected are addressed by further
research about how college major choices are made.
While the findings of Wei et al. (2013) and Gelbar et al. (2015) inform enrollment
trends, the studies illustrate that there is more to learn about how and why students with autism
select a college major, as a group and as individuals. The following section discusses what is
known about how college students select their majors, then focuses on the college major
selection of autistic students.
College Major Selection Structure
Four-year undergraduate degree programs are similar across U. S. colleges. Students
typically take general education classes for the first two years, such as English, mathematics,

16
and philosophy, to gain a broad foundation of knowledge (AACU, n.d.). Even though majors
are typically not declared while students are taking general education classes, many students
have made an initial choice of an intended major (Malgwi et al., 2005). As they approach the
third year, students typically declare their major, thus students are selecting a concentration of
study to focus on that reflects either a strong personal interest or the type of career they wish to
have upon graduation (Galotti, 1999; Wei et al., 2013).
Students may or may not be aware that they are using a process to select their major,
but the structure of the process has been described (Galotti, 1999). In general, students will
select criteria and then utilize resources to inform their college major selection (Galotti, 1999).
The criteria, resources, and information used for college major selection are discussed below.
Criteria
Types of criteria students use to select a college major are career-based, barrier-based,
and self-efficacy-based. (Galotti, 1999). The career criterion is used to determine how well an
individual will fit into the work environment of a particular profession or occupation (Holland,
1997.) By using this criterion, an individual determines if a work environment provides
stability and opportunities for professional development (Holland, 1997). The barrier criterion
is used by students who anticipate being discriminated against or stereotyped, that might be
encountered (Gottfredson, 1981). A student determines which barriers they wish to avoid or
overcome and selects a career accordingly (Gottfredson, 1981). With the self-efficacy
criterion, individuals select a career based on prior academic interest and success (Lent et al.,
1994). Once a student selects which criteria to use, then they amass the information they need
to weigh to base their decision (Galotti, 1999). It is generally considered a best practice for
students to select as many criteria and utilize as many resources as possible (Galotti, 1999)

17
Resources
There are a variety of resources that college students use to gain this information
(Farrow, 2016). Among the resources are self-directed research or reflection, family, teachers,
advisors, and student support services. On their own, students may research the job market
trends or reflect on their strong personal interests (Briel & Getzel, 2014; Milsom & Coughlin,
2015). Students also reflect on their own positive academic or work experiences (Briel &
Getzel, 2014; Farrow, 2016; Milsom & Coughlin, 2015). Students may seek information by
speaking with their family; high school and college advisors or teachers; or campus career
services (Briel & Getzel, 2014; Milsom & Coughlin, 2015).
Within the college major selection structure, different groups of students utilize
different sources of information about the potential majors. For example, for some minorities,
the selection of a particular major may be influenced by high school academic success in a
similar subject (Griffith, 2010). For females, having a number of females represented in the
academic program influenced college major selection (Griffith, 2010). Preliminary research
indicates that students with autism are influenced by family members (Farrow, 2016). The
following section describes what is known about how students select their college majors.
College Majors Selection for Autistic Students
The process that students with autism use to select their major is not reflected in the
traditional understanding of college major selection structure (Farrow, 2016). One difference is
how autistic students gain information about potential careers (Briel & Getzel, 2014; Farrow,
2016). Students with autism are less likely to utilize campus career services than other groups
(Briel & Getzel, 2014; Farrow, 2016). In a small qualitative study (n = 15) about college major
choice and career planning of students with autism; all 15 of the students reported finding

18
information primarily from family members; and ten out of 15 reported that college faculty
also were consulted for information (Briel & Getzel, 2014). Only four of the 15 students
sought information from college career counselors. However, the different conclusions of the
Gelbar et al. (2015) study do illustrate that assuming autistic students generally prefer STEM
may obscure the diversity of choice for college major by students with autism.
A better understanding of how and why autistic students gain information from family
members and college faculty will help college career services customize programs that serve
students with autism.
Educational Environment for Autistic College Students
This section discusses what is known about the educational environment of a student
with autism. First, a discussion about the stereotypes and misconceptions that students with
ADS are likely to encounter in college is presented. Second, some factors that autistic students
may use to decide whether to disclose their disability or keep it private are discussed. Third,
the section ends with a discussion about the kinds of accommodations that autistic students
prefer.
Stereotypes in College Environment
Many categories of stereotypes are found in a college environment. Among these
categories are gender-based (Piatek-Jimenez et al., 2018), race-based (Lo et al., 2017), SES-
based (Qi et al., 2018), and disability-based (Akin & Huang, 2019). Stereotypes can impact
college students and the campus environment in various ways. Stereotypes can impact a
student’s college major choice (Akin & Huang, 2019; Piatek-Jimenez et al. 2018), willingness
to seek campus services (Akin & Huang, 2019), and sense of belonging (Lo et al., 2017; Qi et
al., 2018).

19
Stereotypes and Misconceptions about Autism and Autistic Individuals
Students with autism experience stereotyping and misconceptions. Among the common
stereotypes and misconceptions: autistic individuals with prefer to be alone, autism is the
equivalent of a learning disability, and all autistic students have the same accommodation
needs (Gillespie-Lynch et al., 2015; Gobbo & Shmulsky, 2014; Tipton & Blacher, 2014). In
reality, individuals with autism have a great deal of interest in social interaction (Jobe &
White, 2007; VanBergeijk et al., 2008), autism is not a learning disability (Gillespie-Lynch et
al., 2015), and accommodation needs to be individualized (American Psychological
Association, 2013; Tipton & Blacher, 2014). These stereotypes and misconceptions are
perpetuated by classmates, faculty, and administration and occur in instruction spaces and non-
instructional spaces, such as student services (Gillespie-Lynch et al., 2015; Meile et al., 2018).
Thus, autism stereotypes and misconceptions can be pervasive in a college environment. In
addition, mass media perpetuate stereotypes and misconceptions about autism (Belcher &
Maich, 2014; Goldstein & Ressa, 2021; Ressa & Goldstein, 2021). It is likely that most, if not
all, college students with autism were stereotyped by a classmate, faculty, or administrator who
lacks current researched-based knowledge of autism.
Disclose or To Not Disclose
When an individual with autism enters college, they have the right to decide whether to
disclose their disability or not to disclose their disability (Dymond et al., 2017; Zeedyk et al.,
2018). Non-disclosure of autism is a choice made by students for a number of reasons. To fit in
with those without disabilities, autistic students may be encouraged by caregivers and
healthcare providers not to disclose their disability (Dymond et al., 2017; Zeedyk et al., 2018).
Autistic students may view asking for accommodations as an act of academic dishonesty

20
(Dymond et al., 2017). Students diagnosed with autism will avoid feeling judged (Zeedyk et
al., 2018). Unfortunately, an autistic college student who wishes to receive accommodations
must disclose in order to work with a campus ADA coordinator.
Accommodation Experiences of Individuals with Autism
To expand on the findings that students with autism underutilize career services, this
section reviews research that includes overall experiences with the types of ADA
accommodations available for autistic students. The discussion indicates preferred services and
what autistic students consider to be the biggest challenges while in college. A review of this
body of work is followed by a discussion on how the findings inform the present study.
The types of accommodations for autistic students include extra exam time, exams
taken in separate-space, sensory, academic coaching (to assist with executive functioning),
peer-mentoring, social skills groups, disability-focused student organizations, no-cost services,
and cost-based services (Accardo et al., 2019; K. R. Brown, 2017; Sarrett, 2018). Extra exam
time was the most utilized and the preferred academic service provided to autistic students
(Accardo et al., 2019; K. R. Brown, 2017). Of the support services offered, academic coaching
and disability-focused student organizations were also preferred by students with autism over
other services (Accardo et al., 2019). Peer mentoring and social skill groups were the least
preferred support services by students with autism (Accardo et al., 2019).
The findings of these studies suggest a good starting point for this study. For those
campuses which provided accommodations, autistic students prefer student organizations and
academic coaching (Accardo et al., 2019; K. R. Brown, 2017). Understanding the criteria
students with autism use to select some of these campus services may help inform the
development of more inclusive career services programming.

21
Social Construct Model - ‘Education’ Repertoire Theoretical Framework
Selecting a college major is the common life experience examined in this
phenomenology case study. Research has identified some of the criterion resources that
students use to inform their selection. However, not all group of students utilizes these
resources in the same manner. This study focuses on how autistic students select their college
major. There is no single developmental theory on how students with autism select their
college major because research is emergent in this field. Therefore, this study will borrow
elements from two published theories. One theory is the social model of disability, as described
by L. D. Patton et al. (2016). The second is the education repertoire developed by Davidson
and Henderson (2010)
Social Construct of Disability
The social model situates a disability not within a person, but within the environment
and mindsets of those who are not disabled (L. D. Patton et al., 2016). By extension, the social
model in a college setting, the college environment needs to change how to serve its students
(L. D. Patton et al., 2016). For this study, the college environment includes all academic and
non-academic departments. Therefore, if a group of students with a disability is underutilizing
a department, then, under the social model, the department must change to meet the students’
needs. The literature review of this study indicates students with autism may choose not to
utilize college career services when selecting a college major (Briel & Getzel, 2014; Farrow,
2016). Rather than focusing on changing how the students are to use services, the environment
in which the services are offered should be changed.

22
‘Education’ Repertoire
The education repertoire has empowered autistic individuals to be an educator about the
disability (Davidson & Henderson, 2010; L. D. Patton et al., 2016). The education is achieved
by telling their own stories and not depending on family or healthcare providers to speak for
them (Davidson & Henderson, 2010). These stories are typically told via written
communication rather than by oral interviews (Davidson & Henderson, 2010). Under the
educator repertoire students with autism talk back directly to the environment providing their
own authentic perspectives (Davidson & Henderson, 2010).
For this study, Figure 1 shows autistic students educate the college personnel on how to
change the college environment. College students with autism told their stories about how they
choose their major. The insight gained can be used to inform student services on how students
with autism select their college majors.

Figure 1
Theoretical Framework

Social
Construct
Model of
Disabilities
‘Education’
Repertoire
Case Study: The college major decision-making process of autistic college graduates
Environment should be changed
Disability is a social construct
Student voices
Changes to environment informed by
student voices

23
Conclusion
This review looked at how autistic students select their college major. Research
supports that an updated approach is needed. Since students with autism still struggle to finish
their degrees or gain long-term employment, then research is not serving this community.
Therefore, a research approach that includes the voices of students with autism may better
address the directions needed. Although trends are in doubt, autistic students clearly enroll in a
variety of majors. Thus, the next logical step would be to understand how autistic students
select their majors. The findings of this study describe the types of criteria and resources used
by the participants to select their college major. By understanding how students with autism
select their majors, then support services can better tailor how that guide students through the
major selection process.

24
Chapter Three: Methodology
The purpose of this study was to help serve the academic needs of autistic college
students. This study helps discover how colleges and universities can better support students
with autism determine their college majors. The process by which autistic students select their
major is not reflected in traditional understanding of the college major selection process
(Farrow, 2016). To help discover nuanced findings, this study was not restricted by preexisting
assumptions about autistic students. A participant’s inclusion in this study did not require prior
disclosure of their diagnosis to a university disability accommodation office.
Selecting a college major is defined as when a college student selects the academic
discipline that provides coursework that will prepare the student for a particular profession,
graduate studies, or represents an area of strong interest (Galotti, 1999; Wei et al., 2013).
When informing their selection, students with autism typically underutilize college campus
career services (Briel & Getzel, 2014; Farrow, 2016). Instead, they seek information from
resources including documentaries, faculty, family, the internet, and teachers (Briel & Getzel,
2014; Farrow, 2016). However, research into this topic is still emergent (Accardo et al., 2018;
Briel & Getzel, 2014; Farrow, 2016). Thus, autistic students may be informing their selection
of college major with criteria and resources not yet identified by research. This study will help
expand and deepen the understanding of the resources and criteria autistic students use to
inform their college major selection. Thus, the research question is how do autistic college
graduates describe their college major selection?
Methodology: Single Case Study with an Embedded Unit
The methodology for the study was a single case study with one embed unit. A single
case study is the qualitative method well suited for studies that seek to understand decision-

25
making (Creswell & Poth, 2016) within a context (Baxter & Jack, 2008; Yin, 2018). Embedded
units are used to gain multiple perspectives to create a better description of a single case study
findings (Baxter & Jack, 2008).
This case study sought to understand the college major decision process of autistic
college graduates. The findings of this case study were used to describe which criteria students
with autism used, and then describe which resources they used to inform their college major
selection. The inclusion of the embedded unit was to gain an understanding of autistic
students’ decision on which campus services to use or not use. Findings were used to
understand the characteristics of preferred campus programs. These characteristics were woven
into the discussion of how campus career services and advising can adapt to better serve
students with autism. With multiple perspectives and a broader understanding the of decision
making, career services may be able to innovate programs to meet the diverse needs of autistic
college students.
Population, Sample, and Document Analysis
The population for this study was autistic individuals who have graduated from college
or university.
Sample
There were two samples for this study. One sample was members of online autism
advocacy communities. The other sample was books written by authors who are autistic. These
published works included descriptions about their college experiences.
The sampling method was purposeful. Typically, sampling is used to identify
individuals that are going through a particular phenomenon (Merriam & Tisdell, 2015). The
phenomenon in this case study was the college major decision-making process used by the

26
participants and authors. The first sampling of participants for this study were autistic college
graduates who were members of an online community. These participants had previously
undergone the process of selecting a college major. Participation in this study was strictly
voluntary and could be declined at any point in the study. The second sampling was from the
autistic authors narratives. The authors had written about how they selected their college
experiences.
Sampling
The intended sample size of online participants was 30, as recommended by M. P.
Patton (2015). The actual sample size was 27 (n = 27); why 27 and not 30 is discussed in a
following section of this chapter, Data Collection and Storage. The online sampling was
modeled after the technique used by Gelbar et al. (2015) in an autism study that recruited
participants from an online community. For the present study, after Institutional Review Board
(IRB) approval was obtained (study identification number UP-20-00818), participant
recruitment for sampling began via private Facebook messaging. The online samples were of
members from two Facebook autism advocacy communities. One Facebook group was small,
with fewer than 2000 members. The larger Facebook group has over 60,000 followers. The
names of the Facebook communities are not given to protect the identities of the participants.
Both communities had a policy that required administrator approval prior to posting an
invitation for research participation. To avoid favoring participation from one community over
the other, the invitation to participate was posted to both Facebook comminutes within a time
span of 24 hours. Once the number of responses reached 30, the survey was closed.
For this study, upon IRB approval, permission to distribute or post the invitation to
participate was gained from both Facebook community administrators (see Appendix A). In

27
both cases, permission to post an invitation, viewable only to the community members, was
gained. The posted e-invite contained a link to the pre-screening survey and then to the data
collection instrument, an electronic questionnaire created in the professional version of
SurveyMonkey (see Appendix B and Appendix C). All volunteer participants were informed
that they could decline participation at any time during the study. Potential participants clicked
on a link to SurveyMonkey. The first page of the survey contained the study information sheet
and asked the participants to confirm that they: were at least 18 years old, held a college
degree, identified as autistic, and consented to be a participant in this study (see Appendix D).
Once the pre-screen survey was completed and eligibility was verified, the participants began
the online questionnaire.
The online questionnaire began with an optional question about gender identity.
Remaining questions in the survey were open-ended and were about the experiences that
informed their college major selection process (see Appendix C). Participants were could exit
and return to the survey as often as they wish. Flexibility in time-to-completion is a feature of
surveys that individuals with autism have expressed preference (Gelbar et al., 2015). At the
end of the survey, participants were asked to volunteer to receive a follow-up email to review,
edit, or add to their original responses (see Appendix E).
Document Analysis of Published Work
Document analysis was modeled by the technique used by David and Henderson (2010)
to develop the four ‘coming out’ repertoires of autism identity development. The documents
analyzed were published narratives written by individuals with autism (see Appendix F). For
this study, after Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval was obtained, six published books
were selected from the list of works cited by Davidson and Henderson (2010). Only the texts

28
that discussed college major selection and college experiences were used for analysis. All
published works used in this study are publicly available for purchase.
Instrumentation
In previous studies, autistic individuals demonstrated a preference for written
communication over verbal communication (Davidson & Henderson, 2010; Farrow, 2016;
Gelber et al., 2015). Thus, the online community data collection instrument for this study was a
written questionnaire delivered via SurveyMonkey (see Appendix C). The few previous studies
about autistic student major choice have used published questionnaires or surveys. Published
questionnaires or surveys are backed by studies for validation of questions for accuracy
(Creswell, 2017). However, none of these questionnaires met the requirements of this study:
either the questions were not intended for the target population or they were intended to gather
quantitative but not qualitative responses. Quantitative responses do not lead to understanding
of how decisions are made (Creswell, 2017). Therefore, the instrument used for the present
study included new questions intended to elicit causal themes. The instrument contained
questions about major selection and campus service experiences during college.
The questions about college experiences were divided into three main categories:
criteria, resources, and campus services. Participants were asked how these college experiences
helped influence their college major choice. Galotti (1999) noted that participants are not
always aware they used a process. And, Farrow (2016) noted that study participants had
difficulty answering questions about their college major choice processes. Thus, the questions
on this survey included prompts for students. Prompts in this survey, based on research
described in the literature review, included establishing the major selection criteria and
resources, as well as the college service and programs preferred by autistic students. This

29
instrument also sought to help understand why students chose to use their criteria and
resources. The use of opened-ended questions is the cornerstone of qualitative research
(Maxwell, 2012). Since research on college major selection of autistic students is emergent
(Farrow, 2016), additional opened ended questions sought to identify previously unidentified
criteria and resources. Table 1 shows the questionnaire items cross-referenced to the research
variables identified in the literature review.

Table 1
Questionnaire Items Cross-Referenced to Literature Review
Questionnaire item Data Literature source
What college major did you graduate with?
Describe what was most important to you when
deciding on your major. Why were these
important to you?
Identify
criteria
(Gottfredson, 1981)
(Holland, 1997)
(Lent et al., 1994)
When deciding your major, what type of
information did research about that major?
Please describe where you found the
information.
Identify
resource
(Briel & Getzel, 2014)
(Farrow, 2016)
(Milsonm & Coushlin, 2015)
Did anyone help you decide your major. If yes,
who were they? How did they help you?
Identify
resource
(Briel & Getzel, 2014)
(Farrow, 2016)
(Milsonm & Coushlin, 2015)
Please describe an “a-ha” moment when you
knew what major your wanted.
Identify
criteria
(Holland, 1997)
(Gottfredson, 1981)
(Lent et al., 1994)
Please add there is anything else you would like
to describe on what influenced your college
major selection.
Find
research
gaps
(Briel & Getzel, 2014)
(Farrow, 2016)
Please describe any student services did you
prefer. Explain why you preferred those services.
Decision
making
(Akin & Huang, 2019)
Please describe any student services did not
prefer. Explain why you did not prefer those
services.
Decision
making (Akin & Huang, 2019)
May the researcher contact you, by email, to ask
follow-up questions?
Member
checking
(Harding, 2013)

30
Data Collection and Storage
This section provides details of how the data was collected using the online
questionnaire and published works. Following is a description of how the data was stored and
protected.
Electronic Questionnaire
After obtaining IRB approval, the researcher contacted the online community
administrators, provided a copy of the IRB study identification number, and requested
permission to conduct the data collection from the community. The administrators were asked
to grant permission to distribute or to post the invitation to the community members to
participate in the study.
There were 27 participants in the online questionnaire (n = 27). Initially, 31 individuals
responded to the invitation, but four questionnaires were left blank. Only the 27 who completed a
questionnaire were considered participants in this study. Twenty-six of the participants consented
to a follow up email, which helped with member-checking to increase the validity of the study.
The purpose of this study was to understand the college major decision-making of college
student with autism. Purposeful sampling was used to identify individuals that are going through
a particular phenomenon (Merriam & Tisdell, 2015). Criteria for participation were: being of
legal age, completion of college degree, and self-identification as autistic. The pre-screening
survey determined eligibility for participation to complete the electronic questionnaire.
The electronic questionnaire was delivered online, via SurveyMonkey. Participants were
able to save and then return to complete the questionnaire. Qualitative study participants who are
on the autistic spectrum prefer providing written responses over face-to-face interviews
(Davidson & Henderson, 2010; Gelbar et al., 2015). Online questionnaires that allow a

31
participant to save, and return is also a method mostly likely to increase the number of completed
surveys when taken by individuals with autism (Gelbar et al., 2015).
Published Works
The published work sample size was five (n = 5). Since published works are already
available online, a list of preliminary selection of potential titles is included in Appendix F.
Criteria for selection will be that the authors identify as autistic, and their narratives include
passages that describe college major decision-making. The list of preliminary potential titles is
taken from the reference list of the article by Davidson and Henderson (2010). Fifteen
autobiographies were initially reviewed. Five of the autobiographies contained passages
regarding college major selection and student services, thus included in the data analysis.
Data Storage
All data are password protected and stored on the researcher’s personal computer. Only
the researcher has access to the data. As a backup, the data are also stored on a password-
protected pen drive and cloud drive. Data will be kept for five years from the date of
collection, then permanently deleted from all locations.
Data Analysis
The data analysis for this case study was based on the Codes and Coding technique by
Miles and Huberman (1994) as described by Atkinson (2002). The steps of Codes and Coding
are initial coding, expanded coding, rationalized codes, and proposition formation. Once data
collection from the online participants was completed, pseudonymous were assigned and
identifiers were removed from the online responses. The identifiers and associated pseudonyms
are kept in a separate document, stored, and protected. The authored narratives were reviewed,
and relevant passages were identified. The online data with pseudonyms and published

32
narrative passages were uploaded into the data analysis software. Quirkos was the qualitative
data analysis software used to analyze the data from both the online community and the
published works. For more details on the data analysis software, see Quirkos (2022).
Initial Coding
Initial codes are generated from research-based key variables (Miles and Huberman,
1994). Following the initial codes, full text of the data is examined, and relevant passages are
associated with the key variables (Atkinson, 2002; Miles & Huberman, 1994). The key
variables generated for the present study were criteria and resources for college major or career
selection and campus services. The text of all the online responses and the published works
were reviewed for passages that discussed college majors and campus engagement.
Expanded Codes
All codes created in the initial coding step, together are called the expanded codes,
which are grouped together in themes. (Atkinson, 2002). All the data for college major criteria
were grouped into themes of desired employment characteristics after college, as described by
the participants and authors. As an example, some participants named job-security as their
criteria for college major selection. The data for resources were grouped into themes of relation
to the participant: self, family, friend, peer, and advisor.
Rationalize Expanded Codes
The third step is to audit the expanded codes. Duplicate or irrelevant code are removed
(Atkinson, 2002). In this step irrelevant text and unnecessary verbiage were removed from
each theme.

33
Proposition Formation
Final propositions are formed when the data is interpreted in the context of the research
question and the theoretical framework (Atkinson, 2002). Educational case study findings can
be used to gain understanding to serve as, “lessons learned in practice” (Merriam, 1998,
chapter 8, para. 29). The problem of practice in this study was the underutilization of campus
career services and advising by autistic students. The theoretical framework for this study is
that autistic individuals should inform the changes needed to improve the career services and
advising practice to better serve the diverse need of students. The final propositions, from this
study, serve as lessons to universities on how to improve career services and advising and are
presented in the Recommendations for Practice section in Chapter 5.
Validity
An unpublished survey was used to collect data for this study. Unpublished surveys are
vulnerable to criticism that the instrument is not valid (Harding, 2013). Thus, this study used
three approaches to demonstrate the validity of the instrument: early data analysis, data
triangulation, and member checking. Early data analysis begins with the first data collection
results and affords an opportunity for initial code revision (Atkinson, 2002; Merriam, 1998).
Triangulation helps determine common findings from participants from different populations
(Harding, 2013). Member checking is a qualitative research technique that provides
opportunities for participants to verify that their responses were correctly interpreted by the
researcher (Harding, 2013). Limitations of the instrument can also be addressed by these
methods.
Early data analysis of this study was obtained from the first three responses to the
survey. Early data analysis determined that the initial codes lead to findings that addressed the

34
research question. In this case study, early data analysis determined that the findings would
help gain an understanding of how autistic students select their college majors.
The final data set of this study was further validated by triangulation and member
checking. Triangulating data found convergent themes within the responses of the online
community members and narratives published by autistic authors. For member checking,
summaries and interpretations of the responses were reviewed by the online community
members. Member-checking also provided an opportunity for a participant to amend or clarify
a response. The member-checking protocol is found in Appendix E.
Role of Researchers
As another critical component of a qualitative study, the research identifies areas of
personal bias Creswell (2017). The researcher has professional experience in STEM-related
fields for the past 30 years. At the initial stages of this dissertation, prior to conducting the
literature review, the researcher believed as established fact the idea that STEM-related majors
are a best fit for autistic college students. In hindsight, this belief was acquired through
conversations with colleagues who also shared the same views. However, upon critical review
of the literature, the researcher realized that the STEM-autism fit may not be supported by
research. To help understand other professions, the researcher engaged in ad hoc conversations
with colleagues, such as humanities or fine arts. These conversations helped broaden the
researcher’s ability to interpret survey responses offered by participants from both STEM and
non-STEM fields. Lastly, it should also be noted that the author’s professional goal is to
continue research into the academic needs of college students with disabilities.

35
Chapter Four: Data and Themes
The purpose of this case study was to help better understand how college graduates
with autism selected their college majors, and the findings may be used to inform college
career service program design to be more inclusive and responsive to students’ needs. The
research question for this study is how do college graduates on the autistic spectrum describe
their decision-making for college major selection? This single case study also had an
embedded unit to gain understanding autistic students’ decision on which campus services to
use or not use. Findings of the embedded case study will also help to inform career services
programming design.
Data were collected from two samples: published autobiographies and online Facebook
communities. The six published autobiographies were written by authors who are autistic. All
six autobiographies are publicly available for purchase. The online samples were from autistic
members of two Facebook autism advocacy communities. One Facebook group was small,
with fewer than 200 members. The larger Facebook group has over 60,000 followers. The
names of the Facebook communities are not named to protect the identities of the participants.
As per their polices, both communities require administrator approval prior to posting a
solicitation for research participation. For this study, upon IRB approval, permission to post
the invitation to participate was gained from both Facebook community administrators. The
posted e-invite contained a link to the data collection instrument, an electronic questionnaire
created in SurveyMonkey.
Findings are discussed in the next section. The section begins with the findings to the
main research question and emerging themes from the analysis of the online questionnaire.
How participants described their college major selection is organized into themes centered on

36
criteria and resources. Next, is discussion of preferred and not- preferred campus services. The
final discussion is of the findings of the document analysis that elaborate on three of the
emerging themes from the questionnaire data.
Online Questionnaire
There were 27 participants in the online questionnaire (n = 27). Initially, 31 individuals
responded to the invitation, but four questionnaires were left blank. Only the 27 who
completed the questionnaire are considered participants. Twenty-six of the participants
consented to a follow-up email, which helped with follow up for member-checking to increase
the validity of the study. Each follow-up email contained a portable document format (pdf) of
the participant’s initial answers, with names and emails detached, and participants were asked
to review their answers and make any additions or changes. If a participant wished to make
changes, they were asked to do so in a reply to the follow-up email. If a participant did not
wish to change or add to their answers, they were asked to simply not reply to the follow- up
email. One participant added to their answer, and twenty-five did not reply. All participants
were assigned a pseudonym prior to data analysis.
Gender
In an optional question, participants were asked to select their gender identity as
female, male, or prefer not to state. All participants answered the gender identity question.
Seventeen participants identify as female (63%). Nine participants identify as male (33%). One
participant preferred not to state gender identity (4%). To protect the identity of the
participants, some participant pseudonyms are gender neutral. Also, non-gender-specific
pronouns are used throughout the discussion of the findings.

37
College Major and Academic Discipline
Participants were asked to name their college major. Answers represented a wide
variety of college majors: architecture, biological and biomedical science, chemistry, civil
engineering, cognitive linguistic, communication, construction science, elementary education,
engineering, English, English composition and writing, healthcare profession, history,
homeland security, human science, human services, information technology, mathematics and
computer science, medicine, molecular biology, occupational therapy, political science, sign
language interpretation, sociology, theatre arts, and therapeutic recreation. Table 2 shows the
pseudonym and college majors of each participant.

Table 2
College Majors of Participants
Pseudonym College major Pseudonym College major
Abigail Molecular biology Grace Communication
Alice Not Stated Hannah Architecture
Andy Biological and
biomedical science
Jack Mathematics and
computer science
Anna Theatre arts James Civil engineering
Ava English Jamie Human science
Beth English composition
and writing
John History
Bill Construction science Julia Human services
Chloe Elementary education Liam Engineering
Dan Homeland security Lily Chemistry
Drew Sign language
interpretation
Olivia Cognitive linguistic
Ella Information
technology
Sam Healthcare profession
Emily Sociology Sarah Political science
Emma Occupation therapy Sophia Medicine
Evelyn Therapeutic recreation

38
To get a clearer idea of the variety of answers, college majors were categorized into
larger academic disciplines. The Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP) of the National
Center of Educational Statistics (NCES), (CIP, n.d) was used to determine the larger academic
discipline each of the college majors. A keyword search was used to align the college majors
of the participants to the CIP code. The NCES-CIP coding does not distinguish disciplines as
STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) or non-STEM disciplines (CIP,
n.d). Table 3 shows the number of participants by the CIP academic discipline. The CIP codes
of the participants’ college majors also indicates wide variety of college majors.

Table 3
Number of Participants in CIP Academic Discipline
CIP academic discipline Number of participants
Architecture and related services 2
Biological and biomedical science 2
Communication, journalism, and related programs. 1
Computer and information sciences and support services 2
Education 1
Engineering 2
English language and literature/letters. 2
Family and consumer sciences/human sciences. 2
Foreign languages, literatures, and linguistics. 2
Health professions and related clinical sciences 4
History 1
Mathematics and statistics. 1
Physical sciences 1
Security and protective services 1
Social sciences 2
Visual and preforming arts 1
College major not stated 1

39
Emerging Themes
The data analysis for this case study was based on a Codes and Coding technique by
Miles and Huberman (1994) as described by Atkinson (2002). The steps are initial coding,
expanded coding, rationalized codes, and proposition formation (Atkinson, 2002).
The main research question for this study is how do college graduates on the autistic
spectrum describe their decision-making for college major selection? The online questionnaire
was designed to elicit answers that indicate the types of criteria and resources that the
participants used to select their college major. Ten themes emerged from the analysis of the
data: five criteria themes and five resource themes. Figure 2 shows the ten themes categorized
into criteria or resources. Then next section discusses the criteria themes, followed by the
resource themes.

Figure 2
Emerging Themes for Data Analysis of Online Questionnaire

• Self-reflection on pre-college interests and experiences: self and loved
ones
• Self-discovering academic interest during college
• Self-directed online research
• Advice-seeking from family and friends
• Advise-seeking from non-family member: teacher, professor, academic
advisor, and co-worker

• Liked the academic subject matter, classes, and interactions with peers
and faculty
• Match to one’s skills set
• Job and financial security, and future market trends
• Job versatility, flexibility, and opportunity for professional growth
• Identity or community centered

Criteria
Themes
Resources
Themes

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Criteria Themes
The following section discusses the criteria used to select college majors. The online
questionnaire had two questions to elicit discussion about criteria. Participants were asked to
identify what was most important when they selected a college major. Also, participants were
asked to discuss a moment when they realized they were in the right major for them. Below are
the emergent themes that resulted from the data analysis.
Liked the Academic Subject Matter, Classes, and Interactions with Peers and Faculty
Sixteen participants stated that they selected their major because they were interested-in,
liked, or excited by the subject matter. Abigail, Ella, Sophia, Dan, Jack, and Julia stated that they
“liked” or were “interested-in” the subject matter of their majors. Sarah, Beth, and John stated
that they liked the classes they took within the college major. Sarah chose political science
because they liked the classes.
I liked the classes [Sarah, a political science major].

Whereas, Beth described specifically that they liked the process of writing, and thus chose
English composition.
I liked to write. Wanted to engage in the manipulation of words
into poetry [Beth, English composition, and writing].

And John liked to understand the past and chose history as a college major
Because I like to understand the past [John, history].

Anna, Drew, Evelyn, and Lily further expressed their delight when they discovered a subject that
led to their college major. Anna described discovery, by accident, that majoring in theater arts
would lead to a career in costume design.
I picked my major by accident. It was something I liked and had
fun with so I could graduate … I wanted to play with the fabric in
the costumes department [Anna, theatre arts].

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Drew, upon realizing there was both a college major and a career path knew sign language was
the right college major.
When I found out it was a career path that existed and that it was a
major that existed. I knew immediately [Drew, sign language
interpretation].

While reading, presumably a job description, for a recreational therapist can have fun while
helping people, Evelyn selected their major in therapeutic recreation.
When I was reading the description online and realized that I could
have a job helping people through fun and activities. It felt right
and I was excited by the idea [Evelyn, therapeutic recreation].

When Lily took a chemistry class, they developed a love for the subject no other college major
was ever considered.
Taking chemistry for the first time my senior year of high school
and loving it more than any other subject I had ever taken in school
growing up [Lily, chemistry].

Anna and Sarah also stated that they enjoyed working with individuals in their respective fields.
Anna enjoyed the collaboration, presumably with peers, and wanted the that feeling of
enjoyment to continue in a career.
I liked the collaborative nature of theatre [Anna, theater arts].

Sarah selected political science so they could continue to enjoy talking about politics.
I liked talking about politics in high school [Sarah, political
science].

These sixteen participants selected their major because they liked some element of that field of
study. These elements included discovering that they liked the classes, or that the major was a
subject they already liked, and that they liked collaborating with fellow classmates in a
particular major. One participant described choosing English as a major because they liked to
manipulate words. Another participant described learning about the past, thus being a history

42
major was a good-fit. Participants also liked talking about the subject matter with peers and
faculty.
Match to One’s Skill Set
Three participants, Evelyn, Drew, and Liam described that their major was a good
academic fit because their existing skills were a good fit. These participants understood their
strengths which lead to their college major selection. Evelyn realized that they already possess
skills that could be used as a recreational therapist.
My major, my previous skills are transferable which helps make it
a great fit [Evelyn, therapeutic recreation].

Drew and Liam, knowing their own skills, selected a major that would not require what they did
perceive as not a strong skill set.
It did not require testing on entry or math in the degree [Drew, sign
language interpretation].

How easy it is to learn [Liam, engineering].
These three participants selected majors based on an awareness of their own existing skill sets.
Participants explained that they felt they would have success in majors that utilized their
existing skills sets. On the other hand, participants described avoiding majors that required a
skill set that was not believed to be strong.
Job and Financial Security, and Future Market Trends
Ten participants described using the job market as a criterion for college major selection.
Four participants, Emily, Chloe, Emma, and Grace stated that it was important to feel their
college major led to employment upon graduation. Emily selected a major that guaranteed a job
upon graduation.
What is the point of earning a degree if you can’t use it to work
[Emily, sociology].

43

Chloe selected a major based on the possible career paths upon graduation.

What kinds of jobs I’d be qualified for [Chloe, elementary
education].

Emma selected a major that led to employment upon graduation.

A job at the end of it [Emma, occupational therapy].
Grace also wanted to be sure there was a guaranteed income upon graduation.
Guaranteed income, job security [Grace, communication].
Jamie, Liam, Sam, Julia, and Andy selected majors that they felt would lead to long-term
employment prospects, regardless of future job market trends.
My future job needs it [Jamie, human science].
Because it’s good for me to choose the state of employment in the
future [Liam, engineering].

Professional employment prospects [Sam, healthcare profession].
The future development of the major was investigated [Julia,
human services].

Future market demand [Andy, biological and biomedical
science].

In general, these participants selected majors that would lead to immediate and long-term
employment with a guaranteed income. Participants explained that the primary reason for
getting a degree was to attain employment. Participants also described selecting majors based
on current and future job-market demands. And participants described selecting a major that
would lead to job and financial security.

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Job Versatility, Flexibility, and Opportunity for Professional Growth
Rather than select a major for a specific job, five participants described selecting majors
that would provide flexibility within the job market. For Chloe, Grace, Beth, and Liam, selection
of a college major provided versatility in the type of employment they could gain. Chloe selected
a major that would allow for flexibility in the types of jobs for which they were qualified,
including teaching.
I was looking for majors that I thought would give me a lot of
versatility and flexibility with finding a job I enjoy and could also
let me teach again later if I wanted … we considered cost, logistics
(it was an online degree), and what kinds of jobs I’d be qualified
for [Chloe, elementary education].

Grace also wanted a degree that would lead to a variety of job opportunities.
I needed a job that there were a lot of opportunities [Grace,
communication].

Beth selected a major that lead to a job that allowed for vertical growth.
Versatility of degree and ability to improve my work situation
[Beth, English composition, and writing].

Because it’s good for my future growth [Liam, engineering].

Olivia wanted a degree that provided them flexibility and opportunity while still in college and
through graduate school.
Freedom and latitude to direct the research direction for my Ph.D.
The latitude I was afforded to pursue research directions in both
baccalaureate and master’s programs, such as completing self-
directed “special studies” units as part of both degrees [Olivia,
cognitive linguistics].

These participants felt it was important to have flexibility and professional growth. Participants
described wanting to graduate with a major that could lead to employment in more than one type
of career. Participants also described selected majors that led to employment, even if they needed

45
to relocate. And participants described wanting a major that led to a career that would have
future opportunities for growth and professional development.
Identity or Community Centered
Four participants, Sam, Evelyn, Ava, and Drew, selected majors that would provide the
opportunity to work with in a community that aligned with their own identities. Sam selected a
major that matched their own personality.
Do my own personality characteristics match the future career
characteristics of my major? [Sam, healthcare profession]

Evelyn selected a major that only met their sensory need, but also gave a sense of purpose. The
sense of purpose came from being able to help and enjoy working with others.
Met my sensory needs. This is important to being successful and
happy in a job long term. Involved creativity and problem solving.
This is important because I won’t get bored. Helps people. This is
important because I enjoy working with people and find meaning
in helping others [Evelyn, therapeutic recreation].

Ava selected a major taught by professors that engaged their mind.

I am fascinated by human processes, systems, and expression. I
have ADHD as well as Autism, both undiagnosed at the time and I
hacked my way through college, finding professors who engaged
my mind and then sticking to them like glue. [Ava, English]

Drew wanted to work with the deaf community, and selected a major accordingly.

Wanted to work with this marginalized group and it fill my skill
set. Program focused on Deaf cultural identity rather than
pathologizing [Drew, sign language interpretation].

Drew, Ava, Evelyn, and Sam wanted to align and work with specific communities with which
they identified. These communities would meet sensory needs, give a sense of purpose, give a
sense of belonging, and serve marginalized communities. Participants described wanting to find
a major that led to helping specific communities. And by helping a community, the participants

46
would feel a sense of purpose in their life. Participants also described wanting to work with a
marginalized community, but only in a profession that supported the community, rather than
further marginalized that community.
Resource Themes
Online participants were asked what information they sought to inform their decision
about their college major. Also, participants were asked if they sought anyone else’s help in the
decision. These questions were designed to elicit answers that indicated the resources.
Self-Reflection on Pre-College Interests and Experiences: Self and Loved Ones
Six participants described informing their college major choice by reflecting on their
own life experiences or the experiences of their loved ones. Emma and Ava reflected on how
their loved ones’ interest influenced their college major selection. Emma’s loved one had a
passive influence on their selection.
My partner was interested in the subject. I think I was just trying to
mask/emulate. [Emma, occupational therapy].

Ava, however, reflected on how their loved one’s teachings had influenced their college major
selection.
But they [my parents] had taught me from a young age to be
curious and develop diverse structures and frameworks to
understand the complexities of the world. They saw the value of a
liberal arts degree to generate a thinking human and so did I [Ava,
English].

Olivia, Chloe, and Sophia reflected on their own experiences while selecting their college major.
Olivia understood their own interest and capabilities.
Me, knew my capabilities and interests [Olivia, cognitive
linguistics].

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Chloe and Sophie drew from their childhood memories. Chloe reflected their lifelong enjoyment
of the verbal arts.
I am hyperlexic and was as a child, so I excelled at and enjoyed the
verbal arts [Chloe, elementary education].

And Sophia’s experience with lifelong poor health influenced college major selection.

Poor health since childhood [Sophia, medicine].
To inform their college major selection, these participants reflected on their own and loved ones’
life experience, spanning from childhood to adulthood. These experiences included childhood
illness, knowing one’s capabilities and interests, to witness the success of their loved ones’. One
participant grew up witnessing their parents succeeding in a particular field, so they followed
their parents’ example, while other participants drew on their lifelong interests in a subject
matter. And one participant was influenced by their memory of experiences from a childhood
illness.
Self-Discovering Academic Interest During College
Hannah, Ava, Sarah, Olivia, and Anna used their own academic interests to inform their
college major selection. Hannah and Ava reflected on interests established prior to college.
Hannah wanted to explore a major within a particular field of study.
Origins and vernacular architecture. Prehistoric architecture.
Ancient architecture [Hannah, architecture].

Ava had spent a lifetime exploring a wide variety of majors to find the right fit.

I think I was 8 when I went to my first ANU open day. I explored a
wide range of courses and took courses in Philosophy, geography,
history, drama, and Chinese. Plus, I audited classes I was
considering until I found the right match [Ava, English].

On the other hand, Sarah, Olivia, and Anna discovered their academic interests after starting
college. Olivia reflected on the topics from a college class already taken.

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Based on topics I’d studied in my … baccalaureate programs
[Olivia, cognitive linguistic].

Sarah did not research college majors but reflected on positive experiences in
political science classes.
The classes, the information was interesting … I didn't do research,
I just did the major [Sarah, political science].

Anna reflected on the progress of academic experiences that led to a major in
theatre arts. Anna liked history and took a class on the history of theater, which,
presumably, covered a history of costumes. Anna’s own experience informed her
college major selection of theatre arts.
I found a history of theatre class and took it because I like history.
From there I discovered a love of sewing and making
costumes/clothing [Anna, theatre arts].

Whether prior to or during college, these participants reflected on their own academic interests to
inform their college major selection. Participants described developing an interest in an academic
field while taking a class covering the subject matter, and while taking the class, discovered a
major that would lead to a career in that field.
Self-Directed Online Research
Social media such as Facebook was used by Alice, James and Dan. Ella, Abigail and
Jamie searched on Google. Bill took and online questionnaire to help decide. Evelyn, Liam
searched their college website. Evelyn explained that their college major “jump-out” while
searching the college website.
I was looking through the options on the college website and this
one jumped out as the perfect fit [Evelyn, therapeutic
technology].

Beth searched the job market to help decide their major.

49
Career Opportunities, especially in Business; volunteer
opportunities; fields of study within the degree [Beth, English
composition, and writing].

While Emma researched for alignment of the job market and the college degree offerings.

Job availability (local job search) and course content (college
website) [Emma, occupational therapy].

These participants used online research to help select their major. Among the online resources
were Google, college websites, job market websites, and the social media platform Facebook.
Participants researched online to find a major that was a good-fit for them, to look for the types
of career opportunities that resulted from a particular major, or to learn about job availability for
a certain degree.
Advice-Seeking from Family and Friends
Thirteen of the participants explained that they sought the advice of family. James,
Jack, Abigail, Sam, Ava, Grace, and Evelyn specified that their parents gave advice. Sam
explained that their parents had experience in the field of study.
My parents helped me choose. They have their own experience in
this field [Sam, healthcare professional].

Ava also had parental guidance.
My parents provided me with a little guidance [Ava, English]
Whereas, Grace relied on a parent to select the college major.
I didn’t really know what I wanted to do so my parents told me
what to do. My mom did my major. My mom said it would be
good for me. She chose where I should go to school and helped me
apply [Grace, communication].

John sought advice from a sibling.
My brother Because my brother is related to [a] professional
[John, history].

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And Chloe sought advice from their spouse.
It was something I talked over personally with my husband [Chloe,
elementary education].

Ella, Bill and John sought the advice of a friend. And Andy sought advice from a classmate.
My high school classmates helped me choose [Andy, biological
and biomedical science].

These participants sought the advice of family and friends. Family members who helped
included parents, a sibling, and a spouse. The amount of advice that family members and
friends provided varied. In most cases, family provided a little guidance. In contrast, another
parent selected the major for a participant. Participants also asks friends for help selecting a
college major.
Advice-Seeking from Non-Family Member
Liam, Chloe, Jamie, and Chloe sought advice from a teacher or faculty member or
someone who was familiar with their academic strengths.
My teacher gave me advice [Liam, engineering].

A college faculty member asked me what I’d like to study [Chloe,
elementary education].

Jamie sought the advice of a tutor.

My tutor helps me choose [Jamie, human services].

Chloe sought the advice of professors they had more than once.

I would like to add that the people who helped me most in relation
to selecting my major(s) for my baccalaureate, Master’s, and Ph.D.
program were individual professors. My professors, some of whom
I’d had for more than one class, knew me, knew my capabilities
and interests, and I felt as though I had a rapport with them [Olivia,
cognitive linguistics].

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Andy sought advice via a telephone call to a local department of education. The advice was
given by a professional faculty member, who Andy did not already know.
This professional faculty, through the telephone to consult the
local department in charge of education [Andy, biological and
biomedical science].

Three participants utilized the counseling [Evelyn], student support services [Lily], and career
advising center [Sarah]. Unfortunately, Sarah did not have a positive experience.
The career advising center was a joke [Sarah, political science].
Beth and Drew sought advice from coworkers or those working in the field. Beth sought the
advice from a mentor.
A mentor at the job I was working [Beth, English composition, and
writing].

While Drew sought the advice from people who working in the field of interest.
[I asked] what working people in my field described the work to be
like [Drew, sign language interpretation].

These participants sought advice from a wide variety of people, including high school teachers,
tutors, college faculty, college career advisors, coworkers, and professionals already working in
the field.
Accessing Student Services
An embedded unit of a case study is used to collect data that does not necessarily
answer the research question, but however, does contribute to the findings of the case study
(Baxter & Jack, 2008). The purpose of the embedded unit in this study, was to gain an
understanding of why autistic student engage in certain campus services and not in others. The
online questionnaire asked participants to name campus services they preferred and ones they
did not prefer. Then, participants were asked why they did or did not prefer those services.

52
Findings were compiled into a list of characteristics that might persuade or deter autistic
student engagement in campus services. These characteristics are woven into the
recommendations (see Chapter 5) of how campus career services can adapt to better serve
students with autism.
Preferred Campus Services and Why
Among the preferred services identified by the participants were gender-based student
organizations and spaces, such as women’s spaces [Emma and Ava], accommodation and
disability support center, and writing center [Beth] counseling center [Bill and Evelyn], art and
cultural activities [Jamie and Sam], and community service opportunities [James], tutoring and
professor office hours [Drew], help desk and the library (it was my favorite place to go)
[Anna].
The reasons given for the preferred spaces were that people were helpful or provided a
quiet escape. Anna, Drew, and Evelyn preferred services that they considered as helpful. Ava
liked the campus women’s center because the space met their sensory needs. Ava responded,
“[The space was] quiet, non-echoey, an incredibly valuable woman cave that was fairly small
that helped a lot with my sensory processing issues. So good to have a quiet escape” [Ava,
English].
Not Preferred Campus Services and Why
Drew and Grace did not like services that had barriers to access. Drew [sign language
and interpretation] was frustrated that accommodations were withheld due to a lack of
documentation: “I was not able to access disability services at the time because of lack of
documentation” Grace [communication] had trouble getting an appointment at the counseling
center: “Counseling- It was hard to get an appointment and I can’t say they were helpful, but I

53
struggled with my mental health when in school.” Drew and Grace did not prefer services with
certain documentation requirements, or it was hard getting an appointment.
Sarah and Chloe did not use some campus services because, at the time, they did not
value the services. Sarah [political science] would have wanted to use the career advising
center but found it unhelpful: “The career advising center was a joke. I tried to get help from
the career advising center; they were unhelpful. I would have liked to utilize these types of
services.” Chole explained that, as a student with a high GPA, did not see the need to use any
services. However, in hindsight, realized that the services would have been helpful:
I didn’t use any services in college, as I was undiagnosed until my
mid-thirties. If I was diagnosed, I don’t think I would have utilized
any services; my education was easy for me. I earned a 4.0 GPA
and never received tutoring. I think I would have been best served
by being helped with choosing a major that was practical, utilized
my strengths, and avoided the things that challenge me. Of course,
without a diagnosis, life experience, and a stronger sense of self, I
didn’t even know I needed help [Chloe, elementary education].

Sarah and Chloe did not value the services either because, at the time, the service of unhelpful or
seemed unnecessary.
Beth [English composition and writing], who identified the writing center as a preference
but only if matched with the right person: “Writing Center, if not matched with the right person.
The individual needed to understand my desire to have enough information to write a paper, and
sometimes they didn’t.” Evelyn [therapeutic recreation] avoided student clubs and activities
because they felt overwhelmed: “I was not interested in the student clubs or activities. I found I
didn’t have time and they were overwhelming.”
Three participants explained that their non-preferences were based on how they felt
treated, by individuals. Olivia, Lily, and Grace had interactions with individuals who were not
sensitive to their needs, as autistic students. Olivia [cognitive linguistics] stated, “They were

54
unhelpful as not much was (nor is) known about helping adults with autism.” Lily [chemistry]
stated, “When my professors (especially male, in Chemistry) were ableist, because they were
ableist, unsupportive and not helpful.” Grace [commination] adds “I didn’t get to go very many
times and the counselor told me he felt sorry for me one time, so I stopped going.”
Document Analysis
The purpose of the document analysis was to expand any findings from the electronic
questionnaire. In qualitative research, questionnaires have the risk of providing shallow data
per questionnaire (M. P. Patton, 2015). In this study, artifacts in the form of autobiographies by
autistic authors were analyzed for data that elaborates any of the emergent themes from the
electronic questionnaire analysis.
Artifacts for Document Analysis
Six published books were initially reviewed for relevant data (see Appendix F). As it
happened, one of the books contained autobiographies of ten authors. For that reason, the total
number of fifteen autobiographies authors were initially reviewed. Five (n = 5) of the
autobiographies contained passages regarding college major selection and student services. The
findings presented here are from these five autobiographies. Table 4 shows the document title
and field of college study of the five biographer whose narratives contained passages relevant to
this study.

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Table 4

Artifacts for Document Analysis

Documents Title Biographer Studied in College
Aquamarine 5: Personal stories of college
students with autism (Prince-Hughes ed.,
2002)
Dawn Anthropology
Douglas Anthropology
Jim Anthropology
Beyond the wall: Personal experiences
with autism and Asperger syndrome
(Shore, 2003)
Stephen Special Education
Pretending to be normal: Living with
Asperger’s syndrome (autism spectrum
disorder) (Willey, 1999/2014)
Liane Multi-Media

Document Analysis Findings
The text within the documents supported three of the findings from the online
questionnaire data analysis: (1) Not Preferred Campus Services: Feeling Overwhelmed or Mis-
Treated (2) Identity-Based Criteria, and (3) Welcoming Environment and Inviting Spaces.
Not Preferred Campus Services: Feeling Overwhelmed or Mis-Treated
Liane Willey (1999/2014) had felt marginalized when not accepted by a social
organization. Upon rejection, Liane wrote, “only then did I realize that I had been tossed aside”
(Wiley, 1999/2014, Losing My Way chapter, para 19).
Identity-Based Criteria
Stephen (Shore, 2003), Dawn and Jim (Prince-Hughes, 2002) realized that their college
major choice gave a them sense of belonging to a community that accepts them, as autistic
individuals. Stephen found that their college degree that led to a college faculty job, which was a
good fit. Stephen explains, “educational institutions seem to be much more forgiving of
individual differences” (Shore, 2003, p. v).

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While Stephen (Shore, 2003) chose a college degree that led to employment at a
university, Jim, and Dawn (Prince-Hughes, 2002) chose professions that happened to be,
primarily, at universities. Instead, they chose majors that led to working in a profession with
which they identified. Jim (Prince-Hughes, 2002) chose a major that led to a deeper
understanding of themselves, as the way they were born. Jim wrote, “I am a student of
anthropology; in a manner of speaking, I’m a student of the anthropology of autism” (Prince-
Hughes, 2002, p. 75). Jim further described how an academic advisor reaffirmed the college
major selection (Prince-Hughes, 2002). Jim wrote, “My advisor told me ‘nothing made you an
anthropologist, you were born an anthropologist’” (Prince-Hughes, 2002, p.75).
While in school, Dawn (Prince-Hughes, 2002), volunteered at a zoo. And it was the
interactions and personal connections with individuals at the zoo that informed their college
major selection. While caring for the gorillas at the zoo, Dawn stated that she had, “found people
… who ignored or cherished my differences” (Prince Hughes, 2002, p.115). Dawn felt a kinship
with the individuals at the zoo, which led to the college major choice that led to not only working
with gorillas, but also individuals who work with gorillas.
Welcoming Environment and Inviting Spaces
The last emerging theme supported by the document analysis is Environment and
Space. Liane (Willey, 1999/2014) and Douglas (Prince-Hughes, 2002) describe how
environmental factors affected their preferences about spaces on a college campus. Liane
wrote, “I dropped out of one of my favorite dramatic arts classes because the room we met in
was dark, musty, windowless and creepy” (Willey, 1999/2014, Losing My Way chapter, para
7). While the dramatic art learning space was a deterrent to Liane, the ceramics class was
inviting. Liane wrote:

57
I discovered I enjoyed working with clay and enrolled in a ceramics class for no
credit just so I would have a legitimate reason to play with it … the art lab was
like an oasis … especially in the late evening … it was still and nice, calm and
uncluttered … without the hustle and bustle of other students, I could focus and
relax and really enjoy the art” (Willey, 1999/2014, Losing My Way chapter,
para 26).

Liane described a place of refuge to return to relax and create. Similarly, Douglas (Prince-
Hughes, 2002) found natural outdoor spaces as a place of refuge. Douglas states, “the most
essential reason I return to Penn State … for the wooded mountain ridge, for the sweet breezes,
for the calling of home” (Prince-Hughes, 2002, p.90).
Conclusion
This study sought to ask how college graduates described how they selected their
college major. In the next and final chapter, a discussion of how findings of the study align
with prior research is presented. A main point of the discussion will be that participants of this
study utilized a wide variety of criteria and research. Implications for practice and
opportunities for future research are also discussed in the final chapter.

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Chapter Five: Analysis of Findings. Recommendations for Practice and Future Research
Before the third year of college, students typically select a major (AACU, n.d.), that is
within the area of desired employment (Galotti, 1999; Wei et al., 2013). College students
utilize criteria and resources to guide their selection of a college major, including academic
advisors and campus career centers (Farrow, 2016; Galotti, 1999). However, autistic students
underutilize campus career advising centers (Briel & Getzel, 2014; Farrow, 2016). One
possible explanation for the underutilization is that autistic college students face being
stereotyped by members of the college community (Dymond et al., 2017; Zeedyk et al., 2018).
On the other hand, if autistic students feel supported by the college community, then they are
more likely to take part in a broader range of campus services and activities (Taylor & Colvin,
2013). A culture of willingness to support the needs of students can be created by the
development of inclusive and responsive approaches to assisting and advising students (K. R.
Brown, 2017; Taylor & Colvin, 2013).
The findings of this study are used to recommend ways in which inclusive and
responsive campus career service programs and advising can serve students with autism. The
data presented in Chapter 4 were used to answer the research question and then were compared
with the literature research from Chapter 2. While being stereotyped may affect autistic college
students’ campus engagement choices, it does not necessarily affect college major selection.
Having programs that are inclusive and responsive may encourage students with autism to
utilize campus career services and advising. The need for a sense of belonging is an important
factor for college major selection. Autistic-centered student organizations, and robust online
guides, are important resources that should be provided by the university. Next, these findings
will be interpreted through the Social Construct-‘Education’ Repertoire framework and used to

59
make recommendations of practice that may help inform the development of academic and
career advising programming. Following the recommendation for practice are suggestions for
future research.
Analysis of the Findings
Consistent with previous research, participants selected criteria and then utilized
resources to inform their college major decision (Galotti, 1999). For example Beth, who
majored in English and composition major, named “versatility of degree” as a criterion and
then used the internet as a resource to research “career opportunities…within the degree.”
Whereas, Olivia, who majored in cognitive linguistics, used the criteria “freedom and latitude
to direct my research” and the resource was a professor who “knew my capabilities and
interest.”
Answer to the Main Research Question: How Do Autistic College Graduates Describe
Their Decision-Making for College Major Selection?
The answer to the main research question is provided in two sections. The first section
contains the set of all the criteria used by the participants. The second section is a set of all the
resources utilized by the participants. The purpose of providing the findings as two sets is to
illuminate the width and depth of the criteria and resources used by the participants. With this
broader understanding, college staff can be more flexible in their approach to career advising.
Proceeding each set is a discussion on how the findings align or do not align with prior
research. Following the analysis of the main research question is a discussion of additional
findings.

60
Set of Criteria for College Major Selection
Participants described using five broad categories of criteria when they selected their
college major. The following is a brief description of each criterion for college major selection.
The first criterion (1) was that the participants had a liking of a particular subject that
developed before or while taking a college class. Participants also described selecting a certain
major because they liked interacting with their fellow peers or faculty during classes that
pertain to that subject. The second criterion (2) was that the skills set needed to succeed in a
major matched the skills set that they already possess. The third criterion (3) was a short and
long-term job and financial security. Participants selected majors that would lead to long-term
employment upon graduation. The fourth criterion (4) was job versatility and flexibility, and
professional growth. Participants selected college majors that would qualify them for
employment in more than one profession. Or, they selected majors that would lead to
employment where they could grow, professionally. The fifth findings-based criterion (5) was
identifying with and advocating for a community. Participants who used this criterion selected
majors that would lead to employment that placed them within a particular community. This
set of criteria indicates that autistic students use a wide variety of criteria to select their college
major. Knowing the range of criteria, any university staff offering career advice can help guide
students by suggesting several criteria, some of which an advisee had not considered.
Findings-based Criteria Alignment with Research Literature-Based Criteria. The
following is a discussion of how the college major criteria identified in the findings align with
the criteria described in the literature review. This alignment will be analyzed for any gaps in
the literature-based college major decision structure. These gaps were used to help construct
recommendations for practice and future research.

61
To assist with the organization of the discussion, when needed, criteria from the
literature review will be referred to as literature-based, and denoted with letters, (a), (b), (c),
and so forth. Criteria from this study will be referred as findings-based, denoted by numerals
(1), (2), (3), and so forth. In review, the literature-based criteria are review are: (a) career-
based, (b) self-efficacy-based, and (c) barrier-based (Galotti, 1999). Four of these findings-
based align with the two of the literature-based criteria. The presents study’s findings of: (1)
liking a particular subject’, and (2) skill set match’ are elements of the broader literature-based
self-efficacy criteria (b). The findings of (3) long-term job and financial security, and (4) job
versatility and professional growth fit in the broader literature-based career criteria (a).
However, none of the findings of this study fit into the literature-based barrier criteria (c). And,
the study finding of (5) identity and advocate for a community does not align well with any of
the literature-based criteria. Table 5 shows the alignment of the findings-based and literature-
based criteria of college major selection.

Table 5
College Major Selection Criteria: Present Study Findings and Literature Alignment
Literature-based criteria Findings-based criteria
Self-efficacy Career Barrier Community/identity**
Liking a subject
Long term job and
financial security
*
Identifies with a group

Skill set match
Versatility and
professional
growth
Wants to advocate for a
group

* no present study findings described barrier as a criterion

** not identified in literature

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The terminology used to describe how they selected their college majors sets the
community/identity criterion (5) apart from liking a particular subject criterion (1). Participants
described wanting to find lifelong joy of advocating for a kindred community and working in a
field they felt born-to-do. In-depth analyses of barrier-based (c) and identity/community-based
(5) follows.
Participants Did Not Describe Using Barrier-Based Criteria. A barrier-based criterion
is used when an individual wants to avoid stereotypes (Gottfredson, 1981). Stereotypes can
impact a student’s college major choice (Akin & Huang, 2019; Piatek-Jimenez et al., 2018).
The findings of this present study do not completely align with the prior research on how
stereotypes did and did not affect the participants. While it is established that students with
autism do experience stereotyping during college (Gillespie-Lynch et al., 2015; Gobbo &
Shmulsky, 2014; Tipton & Blacher, 2014), as did participants in this study, none of the 27
participants and five authors described selecting a college major as a means to avoid being
stereotyped. While stereotype avoidance may affect campus engagement, according to the
findings of this present study, stereotype avoidance was not a criterion for selecting a college
major.
Participant Use of Identity/Community Criterion. Four participants of this study
described selecting college majors that led to employment in professions that provided help
and advocacy for a chosen community. Participants selected majors that would lead to working
with a specific community [Ava, Drew, Evelyn, and Sam], so they could “find meaning in
helping others” [Evelyn], which led to an opportunity to “work with a marginalized
group…focus on … cultural identity rather than pathologizing” [Drew]. The document analysis
of the authors’ published works further expands this finding. Prince Hughes (2002) and Shore

63
(2003) selected majors that they were felt born to do and provided a work community that was
forgiving of differences. In other words, participants selected majors that led to working with
communities with which they identified. These specific communities had members that would
either meet sensory needs or provided a sense of belonging and purpose. The sense of
belonging would come from helping and advocating for the specific community. Notably, no
peer-reviewed research was found that focuses on autistic college students’ need to identify
with and advocate for a community, as a career choice. The need for additional inquiry into
this community/identity criterion is discussed in a later section.
Set of Resources to Inform College Major Selection
Participants described relying on themselves and others as resources to measure their
selection criteria for a potential college major. Participants reflected either on their own
strengths and weaknesses, academic interests and success, and childhood experiences. They
also described reflecting on a family member’s academic and career success. In addition to
self-reflection, participants described conducting self-directed research online, specifically
Google searches, university websites, and Facebook. When relying on others as resources,
participants described asking friends, parents, and siblings for advice on college majors.
Participants also asked coworkers, academic advisors, and faculty for advice.
Findings-Based Resources Alignment with Literature-Based Resources. The
findings of this study align with prior research, but with two exceptions. The two exceptions
were the use of the internet and friends as resources and are discussed in the next section. Self-
directed research or reflection, family, teachers, advisors, and student support services were
identified in prior research as important resources to amass information to measure college
major selection criteria (Briel & Getzel, 2014; Farrow, 2016; Milsom & Coughlin, 2015). Also,

64
in alignment with prior research that students with autism specifically are less likely to utilize
campus career services (Briel & Getzel, 2014; Farrow, 2016), only one participant, Sarah,
mentioned using the campus career center. However, Sarah described that the experience was
negative: “Career advising center was a joke.” Sarah’s unfortunate experience, and that no
other participants used campus career services, speaks to the importance of having more
inclusive and responsive career advising programming.
The Internet and Friends as Resources. There were two exceptions to the findings-
based and literate-based college major resource alignment: online research and friends. Prior
research did not discuss friends nor online research as resources. When selecting a college
major, participants Ella, Bill, and John listed, without expounding, “a friend” who helped them
select their college majors. The importance of this finding is discussed again in the next
section. Six participants utilized a variety of online resources to help them select a major.
Among the online resources named were: a college website [Evelyn], a job market website
[Emma] Facebook [Alice and James], and Google [Ella, Abigail, and Jamie]. These findings
emphasize the importance of providing additional resources for students seeking advice on a
potential college major: opportunities for autistic students to make and connect with friends,
and university-created online resources for college major selection.
What Are the Characteristics of Preferred and Non-Preferred Campus Services?
Since students with autism underutilize campus career services (Briel & Getzel, 2014;
Farrow, 2016), to understand campus engagement choices, participants were asked to discuss
why they used some campus services and not others. Participants selected campus services and
spaces that were inviting, quiet and non-echoey [Ava], and without harsh lighting (Willey,
2014). Participants avoided services that they perceived as unnecessary, or when felt

65
misunderstood [Sarah, and Chloe], or pitied [Drew] by staff. These findings illustrate how the
physical and non-physical elements of an educational environment can affect an autistic
student’s willingness to engage in campus services.
According to prior research, autistic students identified disability-focused student
organizations as a preferred college campus service (Accardo et al., 2019). In the previous
section, participants named their friends as a resource to help select a college major. Thus, an
autistic-focused student organization can provide a place for friendships to form, thus serve a
valuable resource for students with autism.
Additional Finding: Selection of a Variety of Majors
Participants reported selecting a variety of college majors. Using the Classification of
Instructional Programs (CIP) of the National Center of Educational Statistics (NCES), (CIP,
n.d), the 27 participants had graduated with degrees from 16 academic disciplines. The majors
spanned a range of disciplines from architecture, biology, communication, computer science,
education, engineering, English, health professions, history, human sciences, mathematics,
physical sciences, security and protective services, social sciences, theater arts, visual and
performing arts. This diversity of college majors contributes to the prior research, such as Wei
et al. (2013) and Gelbar et al. (2015), on whether autistic students prefer STEM majors.
Rather, these findings bring to light that autistic college students are, indeed, interested in a
wide range of academic disciplines and the implications are later discussed in the
recommendations for practice section.
Social Construct Model - ‘Education’ Repertoire Theoretical Framework
The composite Social Construct (SC) of Disability-‘Education’ Repertoire (ER)
framework fit well with the findings of the study. Within the SC framework, a disability is

66
situated in the physical environment, and non-physical environment such as attitudes and
mindsets of the nondisabled (L. D. Patton, et al., 2016). Within the ER framework, individuals
with autism provide their own perspectives and experiences to help build a better educational
environment (Davidson & Henderson, 2010). In Chapter 2, Figure 2.1 provided a diagram of
how the framework was incorporated into this study. Next is an analysis of how the findings
touched on both the SC and ER components of the framework.
Social Construct of Disability: Disability is Situated in the Environment
About 60% of the participants recognized how the elements of physical design,
mindsets, and attitudes found within the educational environment affected, both positively and
negatively, their college experience. About 30% of the participants described environmental
elements that were helpful to their college experience. Ava, an English major responded, “[The
space was] quiet, non-echoey … fairly small that helped a lot with my sensory processing
issues. So good to have a quiet escape.” None of the participants stated that the barriers faced
in college were due to being autistic. About 30% of the participants did recognize that the
challenges at college were due to the physical and non-physical environments. One particularly
poignant response was from Grace, a communication major “the counselor told me he felt
sorry for me one time, so I stopped going.”
Negative elements of an educational environment can impact the experience of college
students (Akin & Huang, 2019; Lo et al., 2017; Piatek-Jimenez et al. 2018; Qi et al., 2018).
However, this present study demonstrates that educational environment design can also have a
positive impact. The participants’ responses reflected their expectations that an institution is
responsible for identifying and removing barriers and creating a positive educational
environment. Given the opportunity, participants readily shared their experiences, which

67
educational institutions can inform the design of spaces and programs to be more responsive
and inclusive.
‘Education’ Repertoire Discourse of Autism Identity: Building a Better Community
Findings of this study are solely based on the data provided by autistic individuals.
Participants shared their experiences when selecting their college majors, which demonstrates
their willingness to build a better educational community. Advocating for the building of a
better community for fellow autistic individuals is a keystone to the ‘education’ repertoire of
autism identity development (Davidson & Henderson, 2010). By contributing to this study,
participants became advocates to create a better educational community for current and future
autistic college students, regardless of disclosure or diagnosis status.
Implications
Each academic year, about 20,000 students with autism enroll in college (Raue &
Lewis, 2011). Listening to the voices of autistic college graduates who participated in this
study was a constructive and valuable approach to this study. Participants provided insights
about their college experiences, not found in published research, which can be used to broaden
and increase the flexibility of career advising programs. Also, it is important for university
personnel to remember that the understanding of autism will continue to evolve (Happe &
Frith, 2020). Therefore, it is important for university personnel not to make assumptions about
students seeking career advice. Below is the discussion of three implications for practice.
The first implication is that any university staff member providing career advice should
be actively mindful that autistic students do not view their autism as a disability. Rather,
students with autism are aware of how the physical and non-physical elements of the
educational environment affected them, both positively and negatively. The second implication

68
for practice is that any university staff providing advice to autistic students should also be
mindful that the interests of college students with autism span across all academic disciplines.
The third implication of practice is university staff should be knowledgeable of the variety of
criteria and resources used to select a college major to be helpful to autistic students seeking
career advice.
Recommendations for Practice
The purpose of this study was to recommend changes to career advising services to be
inclusive and responsive to the needs of students with autism. Below are three
recommendations based on findings and guided by the social construct portion of the
framework. The following autistic-centered recommendations are meant to be interwoven into
a physical and non-physical educational environment, namely, student academic and career
advising. Participants in this study described any disclosure requirement as a deterrent to their
willingness to utilize campus services. Therefore, most of the recommendations are intended to
support autistic students regardless of diagnosis or disclosure status, thereby creating a cultural
of willingness to support the need of students, as described by K. R. Brown (2017), and Taylor
and Colvin (2013).
1. Create Autistic-Centered Physical Environments
Design Student Career Services to Be Open and Quiet Spaces. Administration
should support facilities and career advising staff in the design of physical spaces that are
inviting to autistic individuals. The findings indicate how the design elements of an
educational environment influence a willingness to be in that space. Not only did the findings
provide descriptions of preferred design elements, but also provided additional insight into the
need for these spaces. As identified in the findings, a physical space design that provides a

69
quiet, non-echoey space with natural or non-harsh lighting, giving a sense of welcoming, was
inviting to the participants. Participants explained that these design elements offered a quiet
escape from busy campus activities and that they could relax and focus. Providing a space in
career services for autistic students to relax and focus will demonstrate a culture of willingness
to support and accommodate their sensory needs, without disclosure, thus, increase utilization
of campus career services.
2. Foster Autistic-Friendly Attitudes
Continuous Training to Eliminate Autism Stereotypes and Misconceptions. To help
minimize stereotyping from academic and career advising services, the university
administration should support continuous training that is based on current research.
Additionally, participants described how positive and negative interactions with university
staff affected their campus engagement choices. The description of these positive and negative
interactions demonstrates the need to provide staff training to reduce autism stereotypes and
misconceptions. If an autistic student feels mistreated, then it is unlikely that the student will
return to that office. Participants described how off-hand stereotype-based comments, made by
university staff members, caused them to not return to that campus service. On the other hand,
the reduction in stereotyping and misconceptions in an educational environment will increase
the number of positive interactions that autistic students have with university staff. If an
autistic student knows that they will not be stereotyped, then they can look forward to positive
interactions with staff, thus may be more likely to utilize career services.
With short-term training only, it is difficult to eliminate stereotypes about autism that
can be held by a university community member (Gillespie-Lynch et al., 2015), whereas
messaging from mass media, television, and movies, reinforces the long-held stereotypes about

70
individuals with autism (Belcher & Maich, 2014; Goldstein & Ressa, 2021; Ressa & Goldstein,
2021). Frequent training, not just a single session, should be offered to counterbalance the
amount of stereotyping found in mass media. The need to research and develop a holistic
approach to reduce autism stereotypes and misconceptions is discussed in the section,
Recommendations for Future Research.
3. Foster Autistic Friendly Mindset for Academic and Career Advising
Career Advising Should Reflect a Broad Repertoire. Academic and career advisors
should develop a mindset that reflects a welcoming attitude toward that reflects a broader
knowledge of how autistic students select their majors. Findings of this study demonstrates that
autistic college students may select from a wide range of majors, thus career advisors should
avoid steering them to any autism stereotype-based discipline. Participants in this study
graduated with degrees in architecture, biology, communication, computer science, education,
engineering, English, health professions, history, human sciences, mathematics, physical
sciences, security and protective services, social sciences, theater arts, visual and performing
arts.
Autistic students, in general, will use a wide variety of criteria when selecting a college
major. Participants of this study want majors that lead to careers that: had financial and job
security, had opportunities for professional growth, reflected their own academic interests, and
would entail work that helps and advocates for others. Findings of this study also showed that
positive personal interactions and a growing sense of community and purpose were important
criteria of participants when selecting their college majors.
Advisors should help advisees identify available resources to amass information to
judge different majors with their criteria. However, since students with autism tend to

71
underutilize campus career services (Briel & Getzel, 2014; Farrow, 2016), it might help career
advisors to encourage students to utilize additional resources. Participants described using a
wide variety of resources. And, like some of the criteria for college major selection, the types
of resources used by the participants contradict stereotypes about autistic individuals.
Participants described conducting online research. Participants described utilizing self-
reflection on, not only, their own interests and life experiences, but also of family members.
And participants also described seeking advice from family, friends, teachers, advisors, and
coworkers.
4. Encourage the Use of University Resources
Encourage the use of Online Resources and Support Autistic-Focused Student
Organizations. When selecting their college majors several participants utilized online
resources. Career advisors should assess any university webpages that contain college major
information. Like a university’s brick-and-mortar services, career advising website should be
free of misconceptions about autism. Also, the online resource should reflect the wide range of
criteria that autistic students use to select their college major.
Campus student services should encourage and support the formation of an autism-
centered student organization. This organization should facilitate opportunities for students
with autism to network with peers and build friendships. Participants described asking friends
to help them select a college major. An autism-centered student organization will help the
students explore different majors and career paths.
Recommendations for Future Research
This study highlights a gap in the understanding of how students with autism select
college majors. Participants described wanting to work with, help, and advocate for specific

72
communities with which they identified. Findings indicate that participants selected a
community both prior to or during college. Wanting to connect with and serve a specific
community, although self-evident, is unrepresented in recent peer-reviewed research on criteria
to select a college major. The college major selection structure described by Galotti (1999) was
published over twenty years ago and needs to be updated. Thus, further qualitative research
should focus on how the need to advocate and help specific communities draws students with
autism toward certain majors. Findings from the recommended research can be incorporated
into an updated literature review to revise the college major selection structure to be inclusive,
to reflect current college enrollment trends, and research frameworks.
Additional research is also needed for the development of a training program to help
reduce autism stereotypes and misconception. Prior research findings that it is difficult to
eliminate these stereotypes and misconceptions of campus with a single training session
(Gillespie-Lynch et al., 2015). Participants in the present study described how they faced being
stereotyped by university staff. A training program that offers refresher courses should be
designed to reinforce positive attitudes and mindsets towards autism, which is likely to
increase campus engagement of autistic college student.
Conclusion
Prior research established a college major decision structure (Galotti, 1999). Findings
of this qualitative study broaden the understanding of the structure because data were based
solely on data provided by autistic college graduates, in their own words. Participants held
college degrees from a wide range of disciplines. Participants provided insight that important
criteria for college major selection were identity-based and community-based. Friends and the
internet were also deemed by many of the study participants as important resources to inform

73
their college major selection. The participants’ willingness to utilize a campus career service
was affected by how they thought they would be treated. However, if the stereotypes and
misconceptions held by university community members were minimized, advisors had a broad
understanding of how students select college majors, and with mindful interior design, then
autistic college students may increase their utilization of campus career advising.

74
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Appendix A: Request to Access Online Community
Subject: Seeking college graduates on the autistic spectrum to participate in study about
college major decision making.

Dear [Name of Site Coordinator]
My name is Sheryl Dohm, and I am a doctoral candidate in the Hawaii Cohort of the Rossier
School of Education at the University of Southern California. I am conducting a qualitative
case study as part of my dissertation, which examines how college students on the autistic
spectrum select their college majors. Participants for this study will be exclusively college
graduates on the autistic spectrum. Findings of this study will be used to inform the
development of more inclusive and responsive campus career service programming. [insert
statement about USC IRB approval]

I am seeking your help to find participants for the study. I would like to invite your community
members to participate in the study. With consent, participants will be asked to fill out an
electronic questionnaire. Questions are about the criteria and resources they used to select their
majors. All responses will be kept completely anonymous. Participants can withdraw from the
study at any time.

Are you willing to forward/post an e-invite/email to the members of your online community?
If yes, I will post or send the invite in the body of the text, to forward to your members.
Meanwhile, I have forwarded a preview copy of that e-invite and data collection protocol. This
preview includes information about confidentiality and compensation.

Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you for your time and I look forward to
your response.

Sincerely and with much thanks,
Sheryl Dohm
Doctoral Candidate
University of Southern California
dohm@usc.edu

86
Appendix B: Invitation to Online Community Member
Hello,
My name is Sheryl Dohm, and I am a doctoral candidate in the Hawaii Cohort of the Rossier
School of Education at the University of Southern California. I am conducting a research study
as part of my dissertation, which examines how college students on the autistic spectrum select
their college majors. Findings of this study will be used to inform the development of more
inclusive and responsive campus career service programming. You are cordially invited to
participate in the study. Your response will be kept completely anonymous. You can withdraw
from the study at any time.
Questionnaire Overview:
If you wish to participate, please click on the link below which will take you to the
questionnaire on SurveyMonkey website.
• The first screen that you will see contains a factsheet that provides more details about the
study, including compensation for your participation.
• At the end of the factsheet you will be asked some questions about demographics.
• You will then be asked to consent to participate in the study.
• Next screen, the questionnaire items about criteria and resources you used to select your
college major.
• The questionnaire is anticipated to take no more than 30 minutes to complete.
• You will able to save and return later complete or modify your responses.
Compensation for Participation:
At the end of the questionnaire, you will be asked if you wish to receive a $25 Amazon e-gift
card.
• Your email address will be needed so that I may forward to you a pre-paid gift card.
However, your email address will not be shared nor attached to your questionnaire
responses.
• I will forward you a pre-paid e-gift card from my USC email (dohm@use.edu)
• You will also be asked to further participate in any follow up email questions.
Participation in follow up questions will have a second $25 gift card as compensation.
• It is not necessary to agree to following up questions to receive the first e-gift card.
Again, participation in this study is completely voluntary. Your identity as a participant will
remain confidential at all times during and after the study. You can withdraw from the study at
any time.

The link to the questionnaire is [insert link to SurveyMonkey here]
If you have questions or would like to participate, please contact me at dohm@usc.edu.

87

Thank you for your participation,
Sheryl Dohm
Doctoral Candidate - Rossier School of Education
University of Southern California

88
Appendix C: Pre-Screen Survey and Data Collection Protocol: Electronic Questionnaire
for Online Community Members

Single Case Study: The college major decision-making process of college graduates on the
autistic spectrum.

Embedded Unit: The analysis process of deciding which campus services to use or not use.

Research Question: How do college autistic graduates describe their decision making for
college major selection?

The online community site coordinator will be contacted and requested to forward or post an e-
invite to community members. The e-invite will include a link to the SurveyMonkey
questionnaire. Upon linking to the SurveyMonkey the participant will see the FIRST SCREEN
containing Introduction Items.

Online Questionnaire Introduction Items (FIRST SCREEN)
The FIRST SCREEN will include brief text that
• Thanking the potential participant
• Reminds that participation is completely voluntary, which can be withdrawn at any time.
• Reminds the potential participant the questionnaire contains 12 open-ended questions and
will take about 30 minutes to complete.
• Reminds the potential participant that they can save and return to the questionnaire to
complete or modify responses.
• State that the next page contains detailed information about the study and will ask for age
verification and participation consent.
• Potential participants will be asked to click on the NEXT button continuing to the SECOND
SCREEN.

Pre-Screening: Verify Age and Consent Items (SECOND SCREEN)
The SECOND SCREEN contains
• The full text of the Information/Facts Sheet. A downloaded pdf version of the Information
Sheet is also available.
• Below the Information/Fact Sheet the potential participant will be asked to verify their age in
the format of a multiple-choice question.
o The question states, “I am a college graduate, identity as being autistic, and at least,
18+ years of age.” The answer options are “Yes/No.”
§ If “No” is selected the result is an exit screen, which includes thanking the
individual for their time.

89
• Only if “Yes” is selected, then the potential participant is asked to provide informed consent
in the format of a multiple-choice question.
o The question states “By completing the survey, you are agreeing to participate in the
research.”. The answer options are “Agree/Disagree.”
o Included is a reminder that consent can be withdrawn at any time by clicking on the
WITHDRAW button located at the end of the questionnaire.
§ If “Disagree” is selected the result is an exit screen, which includes thanking
the individual for their time.
• Only if “Agree” is selected, the participant is forwarded to the THIRD SCREEN containing
the Questionnaire.
• The THIRD SCREEN contain the data collection instrument in the form of a questionnaire
containing mostly open-ended questions with a note that questions can be skipped.

Questionnaire Items (THIRD SCREEN)
Single Case Study
1. What is your gender identity? [optional to answer]
2. What college major did you graduate with?
3. Describe what was most important to you when deciding on your major.
a. Why were these important to you?
4. When deciding your major, what type of information did research about that major?
a. Please describe where you found the information.
5. Did anyone help you decide your major. If yes, who were they? How did they help you?
6. Please describe when you first knew what major you wanted.
7. Please add there is anything else you would like to describe on what influenced your
college major selection.
Embedded Unit 1
9. Please describe any campus student services that you preferred.
a. Explain why you preferred those services.
10. Please describe any student services you did not prefer.
a. Explain why you did not prefer those services.
Final Items
11. Do you wish to receive a redeemable code for a $25 Amazon e-gift card? [Yes/No] Your
email address will not be linked to your questionnaire responses. Your email will not be
provided to Amazon. Sheryl Dohm (dohm@usc.edu) will forward a pre-purchased e-gift
card to the email you provide. This is optional.
a. If Yes, please provide your preferred email address.
12. For additional compensation of a $25 Amazon e-gift card, may the researcher contact
you, by email, to ask follow-up questions? [Yes/No]. This is optional.

90
a. If Yes, please provide a preferred email address. Your email address will not be
linked to your questionnaire responses. Your email will not be provided to
Amazon.
End of Survey Items
• Remind participant that they can save and then return to questionnaire at any time by
clicking on the link on the e-invite.
• The participant either click on the SAVE button or the WITHDRAW button.
• The participant will be forwarded to an EXIT SCREEN, which includes thanking the
individual for their time.
EXIT SCREEN contains
• A thank you for participation
• Contact information of the Principal Investigator Sheryl Dohm (dohm@usc.edu)
END OF QUESTIONAIRE

Data Collection and Analysis: Key Varaibles for Coding
College major selections
Criteria
Resources
Criteria
Career-based
Barrier-based
Self-efficacy-based

91
Appendix D: Institutional Review Board Info Sheet for Online Community (UP-20-00818)

University of Southern California
Rossier School of Education
3470 Trousdale Parkway
Los Angeles, CA 90089-4033

INFORMATION/FACTS SHEET FOR EXEMPT NON-MEDICAL RESEARCH

Understanding College Major Decision Making of Students on the Autistic Spectrum
You are invited to participate in a research study conducted by Sheryl Dohm and the faculty
advisor, Dr. Tracy Tambascia. Research studies include only people who voluntarily choose to
take part. This document explains information about this study. You should ask questions
about anything that is unclear to you.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
You are invited to participate in a study that will examine how college students on the autistic
spectrum select their college major. The purpose of this study is to help better understand how
recent college graduates with ASD selected their college majors. The findings of this study will
help campus career services have a more complete idea of the overall structure that Autistic
students select their majors.
PARTICIPANT INVOLVEMENT
Your participation is voluntary. Your refusal to participate will involve no penalty or loss of
benefits to which you are otherwise entitled. You may withdraw your consent at any time and
discontinue participation without penalty. You are not waiving any legal claims, rights or
remedies because of your participation in this research study. If you agree to take part in this
study, you will be asked to participate in a 30-minute survey and complete an electronic
questionnaire.

PAYMENT/COMPENSATION FOR PARTICIPATION
Following the completion of the survey and interview you will receive a $25 Amazon e-gift
card for your time.

CONFIDENTIALITY
Any identifiable information obtained in connection with this study will remain confidential.
Your responses will be coded with a false name (pseudonym) and maintained separately. The
electronic questionnaire responses will be stored on a password protected computer in the
researcher’s office for five years after the study has been completed and then destroyed.

92
The members of the research team, the funding agency and the University of Southern
California’s Human Subjects Protection Program (HSPP) may access the data. The HSPP
reviews and monitors research studies to protect the rights and welfare of research subjects.

When the results of the research are published or discussed in conferences, no identifiable
information will be used.

INVESTIGATOR’S CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have any questions or concerns about the research, please feel free to contact
Sheryl Dohm at dohm@usc.edu or Tracy Tambascia, Ed.D. at tpoon@rossier.usc.edu and
(213) 740-9747.

RIGHTS OF RESEARCH PARTICIPANT - IRB CONTACT INFORMATION
If you have questions, concerns, or complaints about your rights as a research participant, or if
you want to talk to someone independent of the research team, you may contact the IRB
directly at University Park Institutional Review Board (UPIRB), 3720 South Flower Street
#301, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0702, (213) 821-5272 or upirb@usc.edu.

Study ID # UP-20-00818

93
Appendix E: Follow Up, Second Tier Data Collection Protocol: Electronic Questionnaire
for Online Community Members
Single Case Study: The college major decision-making process of college graduates on the
autistic spectrum.
Embedded Unit: The analysis process of deciding which campus services to use or not use.
Research Question: How do college graduates on the autistic spectrum describe their decision
making for college major selection?

First tier participants who agree to the follow-up, or second tier, will be asked to provide an
email address. The second tier only includes a PI-authored summary of the responses to the
first-tier questions. Within two weeks, the PI will send the second-tier portion to the
participant’s email. The PI will use their USC account to send the emails. The participants will
be asked to reply to the email indicating any wanted changes or if they agree with the PI’s
summary.

Follow Up Introduction Items (email)

“Thank you for agreeing to participant in a follow up to the survey on college major decision
making. I have summarized your responses below. Please look over the summary. Afterwards
you will be asked to agree with the summary or make any changes that you wish.”

(Insert summary participant’s responses to first tier, online questionnaire. See attachment C)

Questions to Participant.

If you agree with the summary, please reply to this email and state that you agree.

If you wish to make changes, simply include any changes in the reply.

End of email.

Once again, thank you for participating in the survey follow up. Your additional $25 e-gift card
will be sent to this email address. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at
dohm@usc.edu

Thank You, Sheryl Dohm
(email will include USC email credential line)

94
Appendix F: Data Collection Protocol: Document Analysis of Published Material

Single Case Study: The college major decision-making process of college graduates on the
autistic spectrum.
Embedded Unit: The analysis process of deciding which campus services to use or not use.
Research Question: How do college graduates on the autistic spectrum describe their decision
making for college major selection?
Potential Works included in study by Davidson & Henderson (2010) and available on
Amazon.com:

Lawson, W. (1998/2000). Life behind glass: A personal account of autism spectrum disorder.
Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Prince-Hughes, D. (Ed.). (2002). Aquamarine blue 5: Personal stories of college students with
autism. Swallow Press.
Prince-Hughes, D. (2004). Songs of the gorilla nation: My journey through autism. Crown.
Scheinder, E. (2003). Living the good life with autism. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Shore, S. M. (2003). Beyond the wall (2nd ed.). Autism Asperger Publishing.
Willey, L. H. (1999/2014). Pretending to be normal: Living with Asperger’s syndrome (autisitc
spectrum disorder). Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Data Collection and Analysis: Key Varaibles for Coding
College major selections
Criteria
Career-based
Barrier-based
Self-efficacy-based
Resources
Self-advised
Advice-seeking
Campus services prefered
Reasons for preference

Abstract (if available)

Abstract This qualitative case study examined how autistic students select their college major, looking specifically at criteria and resources they used. College graduates with autism responded to open-ended questions on an online questionnaire. A document analysis of published works of autistic authors was undertaken to collect additional data. The theoretical framework for this study was a combination of the social construct model of disabilities and the education repertoire of autism identity development. Findings are solely based on the voices of autistic individuals. Recommendations for improving support for college students with autism in their college major include having inclusive and responsive programs that encourage utilization of campus career services, and the need to foster a sense of purpose for students through community advocacy in college major selection. Findings also support the recommendation that autistic-centered student organizations, and robust online guides, should be provided by the university.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Dohm, Sheryl Lynn Moore (author)

Core Title College major decision making of autistic students

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Educational Leadership

Degree Conferral Date 2022-12

Publication Date 08/19/2022

Defense Date 08/15/2022

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag autism,College students,OAI-PMH Harvest

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Tambascia, Tracy Poon (committee chair), Green, Alan G. (committee member), Hattori, Mary Therese Perez (committee member)

Creator Email dohm@usc.edu,sheryl.dohm@chaminade.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-oUC111376955

Unique identifier UC111376955

Legacy Identifier etd-DohmSheryl-11145

Document Type Dissertation

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Dohm, Sheryl Lynn Moore

Type texts

Source 20220819-usctheses-batch-974 (batch), University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the author, as the original true and official version of the work, but does not grant the reader permission to use the work if the desired use is covered by copyright. It is the author, as rights holder, who must provide use permission if such use is covered by copyright. The original signature page accompanying the original submission of the work to the USC Libraries is retained by the USC Libraries and a copy of it may be obtained by authorized requesters contacting the repository e-mail address given.

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA

Repository Email cisadmin@lib.usc.edu