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，美国女性在计算机和信息科学（CIS）专业的注册人数和完成CIS本科和研究生学位的人数都有所下降。由于缺乏对进入和退出CIS专业的途径的研究，包括社区大学的途径，扭转这一趋势的努力受到限制。社区大学之所以吸引人，是因为它们比四年制大学吸引了更多的女性，在年龄和社会经济地位方面也更广泛。本研究旨在收集数据，通过探索男女在社区大学学习编程入门课程的经历，以及这些经历对他们决定攻读四年制CIS学位的影响，为鼓励女性攻读CIS专业提供信息。这项研究基于理论框架，理论框架表明动机、父母和同伴的支持以及以前使用电脑，特别是玩电脑游戏的重要性。研究人员将招募700名男女学生，在社区学院学习编程入门课程，这些社区学院是加州大学（4年制公立大学）CIS系的主要馈送学校。参与者将在两年内完成三次调查，并对一个子样本进行访谈。更广泛的影响：该研究的结果将为三个广泛持有的关于CIS专业道路性别差异的假设提供急需的数据；最近的评论表明，在社区大学CIS学生中，关于动机、家庭支持和电脑使用（特别是数字游戏）的作用的实际研究很少。现有的研究是在移动设备（如手机）和多人网络游戏普及之前收集的，缺乏理论，没有检查性别差异，缺乏允许因果推理或确定效应大小的设计或分析方法。这项研究将克服这些限制，并提供数据，说明学生为什么选择编程入门课程，以及这些影响因素如何影响他们在四年制大学学习CIS的决定。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，因为之前的研究侧重于游戏频率而不是游戏类型。这项研究将为增加在四年制大学攻读CIS专业的学生数量提供信息。这些专业的入学人数在过去五年中有所下降，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CIS学生转到四年制大学。本研究旨在填补这一空白，通过识别学生的特点和以前的经验，谁参加了入门编程课程，以及这些特点和目前的经验，在CIS课程预测意图继续在四年制大学攻读CIS专业。

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.