Engagement, Persistence, and Gender in Computer Science: Results of a Smartphone ESM Study

Abstract

While the underrepresentation of women in the fast-growing STEM field of computer science (CS) has been much studied, no consensus exists on the key factors influencing this widening gender gap. Possible suspects include gender differences in aptitude, interest, and academic environment. Our study contributes to this literature by applying student engagement research to study the experiences of college students studying CS, to assess the degree to which differences in men and women's engagement may help account for gender inequity in the field. Specifically, we use the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) to evaluate in real-time the engagement of college students during varied activities and environments. Over the course of a full week in fall semester and a full week in spring semester, 165 students majoring in CS at two Research I universities were “beeped” several times a day via a smartphone app prompting them to fill out a short questionnaire including open-ended and scaled items. These responses were paired with administrative and over 2 years of transcript data provided by their institutions. We used mean comparisons and logistic regression analysis to compare enrollment and persistence patterns among CS men and women. Results suggest that despite the obstacles associated with women's underrepresentation in computer science, women are more likely to continue taking computer science courses when they felt challenged and skilled in their initial computer science classes. We discuss implications for further research.

The Status of Women in STEM in Higher Education: A Review of the Literature 2007–2017

“…Students are also likely to persist if they have perceived support from advisors (Clark et al 2016;Prime et al 2015), adequate precollege education (Ceglie and Settlage 2016;RiegleCrumb et al 2012), high performance in the classroom (Lang 2008;Milesi et al 2017), and a resilience toward gender stereotypes in STEM (Di Bella and Crisp 2016). Support from family (Hughes 2010;Robinson 2012;Talley and Martinez Ortiz 2017), romantic partners (Barth, Dunlap, and Chappetta 2016), the campus community (Morganson et al 2015;Pedone 2016), and a strong women peer group (Morganson, Jones, and Major 2010;Robnett 2016;Shapiro 2011;Stine 2010) can also aid in women persisting in STEM.…”

Eliminating gender inequity : why women choose computer science

“…Some were uncertain about continuing to the next programming course because they felt they had not learned the programming language well enough. This aligns with existing research that indicates that women are more likely to continue coursework in computer science when they feel they have learned the necessary skills in their introductory class (Milesi et al, 2017). Barker et al (2009) found that women have a greater tendency to drop out of computer science classes even though their grades are higher than their male peers who stay in the courses.…”

“…Others found the material to be too difficult and not only dropped the course but out of the program as well. This reaction is supported by Milesi et al (2017) who found that when coursework becomes difficult, women believe their skills are not as strong as needed to be successful and will tend to drop out.…”

“…This requires students to be persistent to achieve success (Bhardwaj, 2017), which statistics show is difficult for many women. When coursework becomes difficult, women believe their skills are not strong enough to be successful and will tend to drop out (Milesi et al, 2017). Women have a greater tendency to drop out of computer science classes even though their grades may be higher than their male peers who stay (Barker, et al, 2009).…”

Difficulty Orientations, Gender, and Race/Ethnicity: An Intersectional Analysis of Pathways to STEM Degrees

“…Within flow theory, challenge positively motivates engagement and discourages boredom, when balanced with skill and interest (Csíkszentmihályi 1990(Csíkszentmihályi , 1988Csíkszentmihályi and Schneider 2000). Moreover, encountering challenge has been found to promote women's persistence in computer science (Milesi et al 2017). However, girls who do not have a growth mindset, i.e., the belief that mathematics ability can be developed rather than innate, may struggle with stereotypes about their intelligence when tasked with difficult mathematics problems (Dweck 2000(Dweck , 2006.…”