Correlating undergraduate attitudes with long-term physics retention in women

Most prior studies about student retention in physics examine only one variable only in an individual course. Using data collected at the Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CUWiP) from 2014 to 2018, as well as a follow up survey, we see correlations between a wide range of attitudes as an undergraduate student and persistence. From our follow up survey, we can examine correlations between attitude and participation in physics through and after graduation. The CUWiP surveys asked about women's sense of community, performance competence, physics identity, physics interest, sense of belonging, and perceived recognition. Our analysis covers each individual question asked on the survey, as well as compound categories created from grouping similar questions. Our initial analyses have shown that in the surveys taken before the conference, perceived recognition and physics identity correlate most strongly with persistence in physics; we plan to test these with more rigorous statistical analysis and machine learning methods. Our goal for this project is to find which qualities are the best predictors of retention in undergraduate women. Using these qualities and future CUWiP surveys, we can find which undergraduate women need more support from the physics community.