ECR Core Research: Investigating Computer Science Departmental Diversity Efforts to Identify Levers for Change

这项研究解决了长期以来在计算机科学(CS)领域学习和工作的人之间缺乏多样性的问题。描述获得理工科学位的人的性别和种族/民族的统计数据说明了一个变化缓慢的学科的故事。近20年来，女性获得计算机科学本科学位的比例几乎没有上升。在过去的几十年里，西班牙裔、非裔美国人和美国原住民学生在计算机领域缺乏代表性，这一点更加可怕。然而，许多CS部门已经做出了各种各样的努力，以扩大对计算(BPC)的参与。虽然已经研究了BPC的努力，但到目前为止，这项研究还没有检验有助于或阻碍进步的一个关键杠杆：教职员工对多样性的态度以及他们系的BPC努力。这个项目将寻求更多地了解这些教职员工的态度、支持和障碍，以向那些希望使计算机学位毕业生多样化的人提供基于研究的建议。这种多样化很重要，因为今天的学生是社会未来的技术专家，所以他们应该反映他们即将服务的社会。这项研究将采用现象学的定性方法来探索教师对扩大参与计算(BPC)倡议的态度、概念和信念。研究人员将收集来自三个不同计算机科学系的教职员工和管理人员的访谈数据，这些系是从美国排名前25位的本科计算机科学学位制作者中挑选出来的。样本中的每个机构都大力参与了部门一级的多样性努力，取得了一些成功，但在某些领域明显缺乏成功。这项研究的主要研究问题将是：什么组织条件支持或阻碍教师在高本科学位的生产计算系中采用BPC努力？由于教员在组织系统内工作，这有助于或阻碍他们在系中产生和维持变革的能力，因此这项研究借鉴了新制度理论。这一理论有助于阐明教员的信念和行动在回应和共同创造部门文化方面所起的作用，包括为非多数群体培养包容性的部门氛围。这项研究的目标是建立一个知识库，了解是什么支持和阻碍了部门多样性的努力，以及哪些组织条件是变革扎根的必要条件。这个知识库可以导致与BPC和CS教师相关的新干预，以及其他学科或其他高等教育机构类型的相关研究。该项目得到了NSF的EHR核心研究(ECR)计划的支持。ECR计划强调基础STEM教育研究，以产生该领域的基础知识。在基本、广泛和持久的关键领域进行投资：STEM学习和STEM学习环境，扩大STEM的参与，以及STEM劳动力发展。该计划支持积累强有力的证据，为理解、构建理论以解释和建议干预措施和创新来解决持续问题提供信息。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This study addresses the longstanding problem of the lack of diversity among persons studying and working in the field of computer science (CS). The statistics describing the gender and race/ethnicity of those who earn CS degrees tell a story of a discipline that has been slow to change. The percentage of CS undergraduate degrees that have been earned by women has barely risen in nearly two decades. The lack of representation of Hispanic, African American, and Native American students in computing over the past few decades is even direr. And yet many CS departments have undertaken a wide variety of efforts to broaden participation in computing (BPC). While BPC efforts have been studied, the research until now has not examined a key lever that helps or hinders progress: faculty members’ attitudes toward diversity and their department’s BPC efforts. This project will seek to understand more about these faculty attitudes, supports, and obstacles to provide research-based recommendations to those who wish to diversify the students graduating with computing degrees. This diversification is important because today’s students are society’s future technologists, so they should reflect the society they will soon serve.This research study will take a phenomenological qualitative approach to explore faculty attitudes, conceptions, and beliefs about broadening participation in computing (BPC) initiatives. The researchers will collect interview data from faculty and administrators in three different computer science departments chosen from among the top 25 undergraduate CS degree producers in the US. Each institution in the sample has been significantly involved in diversity efforts at the departmental level, with some successes, but with a notable lack of success in certain areas. The study’s main research question will be: What organizational conditions support or hinder faculty uptake of BPC efforts in high undergraduate-degree producing computing departments? Because faculty work within organizational systems that help or hinder their ability to produce and sustain change in their departments, the study draws upon neo-institutional theory. This theory helps clarify the role that faculty beliefs and actions play in responding to and co-creating departmental culture, including fostering inclusive departmental climates for non-majority populations. The study’s goal is to build a knowledge base of what supports and hinders departmental diversity efforts, and what organizational conditions are necessary for change to take hold. This knowledge base can lead to new interventions relative to BPC and CS faculty, as well as related research in other disciplines or other higher education institution types.This project is supported by NSF's EHR Core Research (ECR) program. The ECR program emphasizes fundamental STEM education research that generates foundational knowledge in the field. Investments are made in critical areas that are essential, broad, and enduring: STEM learning and STEM learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development. The program supports the accumulation of robust evidence to inform efforts to understand, build theory to explain, and suggest interventions and innovations to address persistence.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.