The focus of this study was to answer the following questions:

- the gender gap changes for incoming computer science college students (from 1971-2011)
- why do male and female students choose to major in computer science and has there been any changes in these reasons over time
- what influence does gender difference in students' attributes (i.e. personal values, background in family and education, etc.) have on the decision to study computer science and has this changed over time

A Gender Gap Study of Computer Science- Questions

The research study article took note of the variables that were used to contextualize what was being analyzed as part of the longitudinal survey (the concepts that were part of the analysis). 

- personal characteristics/background contexts: the attributes that would lead to the student's ideas about their future career
- learning experiences: this was contextualized by the variable of the student's grade point average during their high school years
- self-efficacy: the variable used was the math self-concept of the student as the closest variable to embody this concept
- outcome expectations: the variables used for this concept were anything that indicated success or persistence in the career field
- interest: any goal that seemed to suggest the encouragement or discouragement of choosing a certain career path
- contextual influences: any variable that shows career choices being affected by outside concerns (i.e. financial difficulties)
- choice goals: the academic and career goals that could influence students to choose a major (that might or might not be a STEM major)

Variables of the Study

The article lists some of their own implications for the results of the study for future research and changes:

- the results for computer science, especially about the gender gap differences in students, seem to be different than that of other STEM majors, so it's important to keep note of the results of each study
- studying gender gap differences in computer science over time is important, because the longitudinal results can yield results that can provide better context as to why the gender gap exists in this STEM major
- these results can help pinpoint what can be done to attract more female students to computer science, especially in making this academic major more appealing to women by addressing the reasons they are more or less likely to study computer science

Some Implications of This Gender Gap Study

The researchers used the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) Freshman Survey to understand why the computer science students chose to study in this field and what influenced them. This was also a longitudinal study that allowed the analysis of computer science students over four decades. Over 8 million students from 1,225 colleges for the years 1971 to 2011 were involved in this survey.

University of California, Berkeley

One research article proposed and implemented a study into the downward trend of female students going into the computer science major, meant to address concerns as to this underrepresentation of women in one of the major STEM fields. In order to fully understand the reason as to why this trend exists as well as how this problem of underrepresentation can be dealt with, this article discusses a study about the trends present in this gender gap within computer science education, as well as why male and female students study computer science in the first place.  

Women's Participation in Computer Science: A Gender Gap (Summary)

Linda J. Sax, Kathleen J. Lehman, Jerry A. Jacobs, M. Allison Kanny, Gloria Lim, Laura Monje-Paulson & Hilary B. Zimmerman (2017) Anatomy of an Enduring Gender Gap: The Evolution of Women’s Participation in Computer Science, The Journal of Higher Education, 88:2, 258-293, DOI: 10.1080/00221546.2016.1257306

Anatomy of an Enduing Gender Gap: The Evolution of Women's Participation in Computer Science

One interesting aspect of computer science student demographics is that, while female students are less likely to be involved in the STEM majors compared to male students, when looking at the ethnic minorities of students, Black and Asian students have a more even distribution of male and female students in computer science compared to the underrepresentation of women in computer science (despite non-White students being underrepresented in STEM fields). 

Demographics and Representation of Students in Computer Science

The research study centered around the theoretical perspective known as the social cognitive career theory, which suggests that the development of a person's career occurs through the development of interests and the choices made related to careers over their lifetime. This career-related choice behavior involves influences such as one's family, identity, and education, among other factors working together with learning experiences that are based on self-efficacy and outcome expectations. These can develop into interests that can lead to making choices about goals for the future, what needs to be done to achieve those goals, and whether or not the person feels validated and confident they can succeed (if not, the preceding actions and choices become learning experiences that can lead to making another choice into a different career). 

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