GSE/RES: Students' Pathways into Computer and Information Sciences Majors:A Study of Community College Men and Women

智力优势：在过去的20年里，美国计算机和信息科学（CIS）专业的女性入学率以及CIS本科和研究生学位的完成率都有所下降。扭转这一趋势的努力受到了限制，因为缺乏对独联体专业的进出途径的研究，包括社区大学途径。社区学院之所以令人感兴趣，是因为与四年制大学相比，社区学院吸引的女性比例更高，而且在年龄和社会经济地位方面的人口更广泛。 这项研究的目的是收集数据，可以用来通知努力，鼓励妇女追求独联体专业，探索妇女和男子在社区学院的经验，以介绍编程课程和这些经验的影响，他们决定追求四年的独联体学位。这项研究是基于理论框架，表明动机，父母和同伴的支持，以及以前的计算机使用，特别是计算机游戏的重要性。 研究人员将招募700名男女学生参加社区学院的入门编程课程，社区学院是加州大学（4年制公立大学）CIS系的主要附属学校。 参与者将完成三个调查超过两年，和一个子样本将interviewed.Broader影响：该研究的结果将提供急需的数据，对三个广泛持有的假设性别差异的途径，以独联体专业;最近的评论表明，很少有实际的研究动机，家庭支持和计算机使用（特别是数字游戏）的作用，社区学院独联体学生。存在的是在可广泛访问的移动的可用之前收集的（例如，手机）和多人网络游戏，缺乏理论，没有研究性别差异，缺乏设计或分析方法，可以进行因果推理或确定效果大小。本研究将克服这些局限性，并提供数据，说明为什么学生选择入门编程课程，以及这些影响因素如何与在4年制院校攻读CIS的决定相关。此外，这项研究将有助于了解数字游戏在CIS专业选择中的作用，因为之前的研究主要集中在游戏的频率上，而不是游戏的类型。这项研究将为增加在四年制大学攻读CIS专业的学生人数提供信息。在过去五年中，这些专业的入学人数有所下降，尤其是女性。 但是，由于缺乏对学生的严格研究，缩小性别差距的努力受到了限制。进入和通过社区大学的途径;很少有人知道为什么独联体学生转移到4年制院校。本研究旨在填补这一空白，确定谁采取入门编程课程的学生的特点和以往的经验，以及这些特点和目前的经验，在CIS课程预测打算继续追求CIS专业在4年制大学。

Intellectual Merit: Women's enrollment in computer and information sciences (CIS) majors and completion of CIS undergraduate and graduate degrees has declined in the US over the last 20 years. Efforts to reverse this trend have been limited by a lack of research on the pathways into and out of CIS majors, including community college pathways. Community colleges are of interest because they attract a higher proportion of females and a broader demographic in terms of age and socioeconomic status than 4-year universities. This study is designed to collect data that can be used to inform efforts to encourage women to pursue CIS majors by exploring the experiences of women and men in community colleges taking introductory programming courses and the impact of those experiences on their decisions to pursue a four-year CIS degree. The study is based on theoretical frameworks that suggest the importance of motivation, parent and peer support, and previous computer use, especially computer game play. The researchers will recruit 700 female and male students in introductory programming courses at community colleges that are key feeder schools to the University of California (4-year public universities) CIS departments. Participants will complete three surveys over two years, and a subsample will be interviewed.Broader Impacts: The findings of the study will provide much-needed data on three widely held assumptions about gender differences in pathways to CIS majors; recent reviews suggest that there is little actual research on the role of motivation, family support and computer use (particularly digital gaming) among community college CIS students. That which exists was collected before the availability of widely accessible mobile (e.g., cell phone) and multiplayer Internet games, is short on theory, does not examine variation within gender, and lacks a design or analytic approach that allows for causal inference or the determination of effect sizes. This study will overcome these limitations and provide data on why students choose introductory programming courses and how those influential factors relate to decisions to pursue CIS at a 4-year institution. In addition, this study will contribute to knowledge about the role of digital gaming in choice of CIS major, since prior research focuses on frequency of game play rather than on type of play. This research will inform efforts to increase the number of students who pursue CIS majors at 4-year universities. Enrollment in these majors has dropped in the last five years, especially for women. But efforts to close the gender gap have been limited by a lack of rigorous research on students? pathways into and through community college; little is known about why CIS students transfer to 4-year institutions. This research aims to fill this gap by identifying the characteristics and prior experience of students who take introductory programming courses, and whether those characteristics and current experience in CIS courses predict intention to go on to pursue a CIS major at a 4-year university.