A sample survey of attitudes to computer studies

0360-I 3 I5186 53.00 + 0.00 Pergamon Press Lid

Compur.Educ. Vol. 10, No. 2, pp. 29S298, 1986 Printedin Great Britain

A SAMPLE SURVEY OF ATTITUDES STUDIES J. R. Department of Mucation,

TO COMPUTER

A. MCEWENand C. A. CURRY The Queen’s University of Belfast, Belfast BT7 INN, Northern Ireland

GARDNER,

(Received 24 June 1985)

Abstract-There is a general concern at present that curricular and technological change affecting the and career aspirations of school pupils is not being fully exploited by girls. Whilst there are many reasons which can be offered to explain this trend most arise from subjective analysis or are extrapolated from surveys conducted into the factors affecting the uptake of science subjects. Much research which has considered attitudes to and the uptake of computer studies/information technology in schools has tended to be based on relatively small or isolated pupil populations but in this present study the attitudes of 1500 sixth-form boys and girls have been explored using standard questionnaire techniques. The pupil population was selected to cover a range of school types, pupil social class, ability, religion and sex as the dominant label. The survey questions were framed to explore attitudes to computing and computers, aspirations towards computer-related careers and attitudes to activities such as programming and games playing. Statistical tests have been applied to the results in order to identify overall trends and to assess the significance of boy-girl agreement and disagreement on various aspects.

ecju&on

INTRODUCTION

Since the Government announced its Microelectronics in Education Programme (MEP) in 1980, there have been reports of a growing disquiet among educationalists that differences between boys and girls in choices of mathematics and science subjects were being echoed in the use of computers. The disparity in the number of boys and girls taking computer studies as a school subject has been widely reported. For example, in a study of a selection of Welsh secondary-level schools [I], Her .Majesty’s Inspectorate reported that in most schools considerably more boys than girls opt for computer studies-typically in the ratio 2: 1 boys to girls. Girls equalled boys in the computer studies classroom in only a minority of cases and the authors called for an investigation into the reasons for this under-representation. In a separate study, Fletcher [2] reported that it was rare to find a school where girls matched boys in enthusiasm for computers or indeed in attainment, and he called for the reasons for the successes to be investigated and made more widely known. In both cases, the authors reported the use by co-educational schools of positive discrimination such as girls-only computer days, to counteract the effect of the girls having to compete with the more aggressive boys for computer access. In post-school employment, the Equal Opportunities Commission [3,4] has identified a number of detrimental effects which the introduction of new technology into the workplace will have on women’s employment patterns. A negative attitude on the part of girls to computing and its attendant information technology in schools is likely to compound these effects by being “a very great handicap in modern technological society” and contributing to a new sense of second-class citizenship for the working woman [5]. Kiesler et al. [6] quote American industrial estimates that computers will be the primary tools in 25% of all jobs and that computer literacy will increasingly become an essential skill in the career market place. They suggest that the reason that girls are lagging behind boys in the pursuit of this literacy, is the “masculine and scientific” ethos surrounding computers. Omerod [7] investigated boys’ and girls’ choices of school subjects and developed a gender spectrum with the “masculinity” of subjects at one end increasing in the order mathematics, physics and chemistry. It is possible that computer studies, a relatively new subject in most schools, could suffer from similar associations. In a survey of examination entries Newbould [8] concluded that only physics of the major school subjects, was more male dominated than computer studies and suggested that the format of the examinations contributed to the lower attainment levels and lack of enthusiasm of the girls. 293

J. R. GARDNER et al.

294 Table

I. Examination

entries

since 1980

NISEC

ULSEB

U.K. CSE

O-level

0-ICVCI

Year

All-levels M+F

M

F

M

F

1980 1981 I902 1983 1984

37311 52707 79009 107505 Aoutox 120.000

133 248 407 686 928

201 289 409 684 822

502 1137 1625

240 678 978

J/ores: M = male, F = female; no NISEC prior to 1981.

M 74 457 838 1276

A-level

F

M

F

60 273 423 528

454 603 864 998 1167

105 163 241 253 288

prior to 1982; no ULSEB

“0”-level

“O”-level

A close look at examination entries gives an indication of the trends in student choices and in Table 1 the figures for the total number of national (U.K.) entries [9]* are presented along with figures from two individual examination boards: Northern Ireland (NISEC) [lo] and the University of London (ULSEB) [l 11. The Ordinary-level entries are plotted in Fig. 1 with a plot of the total national figures for comparison. The trend at Ordinary-level appears to be more entries from the boys in the ratio 2: 1. It is interesting to note that at the less academically oriented CSE level (NISEC) there is almost parity in choice and that as the academic orientation increases the trend moves in favour of the boys with 1.7: 1 for Ordinary-level to just over 4: 1 at Advanced-level (ULSEB). However, the ratios are known to be much more pronounced nationally with the following figures in 1984 for the main examinations (boys first): CSE 28157/16879 (1.7: 1); GCE “0” 42,383/18,568 (2.3:1) and GCE “A” 6896/1714 (4:1)*. Outside of schools very little research has been carried out on the male/female perception of computers but some interesting facts have emerged from two surveys carried out by the British Broadcasting Corporation [ 121.These related to two series of television programmes on computers: The Computer Programme and Making the Most of the Micro. The audience breakdown for these series was 53% mean, 47% women and 50% men, 50% women respectively. In both cases the social classes C2 and D/E represented 66% of the audience and the age group 16-24 years was 10% and 11% of the audiences for each programme respectively. The most surprising fact to emerge from the surveys was that despite almost equal division of the viewing audience, 96% of computer buyers

X Tot01 UK entr~er GCE “0” level o . A *

levelsI /’ / / /

P

15

Fig. I. Examination ‘All

Iall

NISEC boys NISEC qarls ULSEB boys ULSEB q1rts

entries

I

/

since 1980.

national figures up to and including 1983 have been published by CES (91. National been published but the figures given are those as they are currently known.

figures

for

1984 have not

Attitudes to computer studies

295

were men. This fact is probably more indicative of the socio-economic facts of life than of attitudes to computing but is interesting nonetheless. As mentioned above the lack of uptake of computer studies by girls in schools is often attributed to the “masculinity” of the subject, a reason much quoted to explain the same observation for mathematics and the sciences. However, unlike these subjects, computers have a much higher profile in life with applications in almost every facet of day to day living including education, commerce and leisure. Is a subject with such a wide range of applications and everyday exposure likely to engender the same stereotyped sex differences in attitudes as mathematics and science? In an attempt to answer this and other related questions, this work has assessed the attitudes of almost 1500 sixth form school students in Northern Ireland. THE

SURVEY

A sample of 1441 lower sixth-form students (704 boys, 737 girls) was used as the population for the survey (representing approximately one quarter of the total Advanced-level student population). The students were chosen from 21 schools which represented a micro-spectrum of Northern Ireland schools in terms of: (1) (2) (3) (4)

locution-urban/rural; type-single-sex/co-educational; munugement-controlled/maintained/voluntary; size-large/small (minimum 50 Advanced-level

students).

After the sample schools had been selected the principals were approached to seek their cooperation and permission to carry out the survey. All participating schools were assured that students’ responses would be treated confidentially. The survey materials were taken to each school and all of the lower sixth-form students who were present were surveyed. This method was adopted in order to avoid asking a school to select a random sample of students, since some degree of bias could affect school-based random sampling. A standardised procedure was used for all groups and the survey was conducted under examination type conditions in order to ensure validity and confidentiality of response. The research was carried out by means of a questionnaire which contained items on academic background, leisure activities and attitudes to computer education and technology. A draft attitude questionnaire was piloted with a group of 80 upper sixth-form students and a final version was arrived at through item analysis. This refined questionnaire comprised 17 items designed to elicit responses in the form 1 to 5 (strongly agree. . . 1 to strongly disagree. . .5) to a number of statement themes related to computers. They included for example, the relation between studying computer studies and future career expectations; perceived gender stereotypes in science subject preferences and their impact upon attitudes towards computer education; the socio-cultural contexts of computer education; and attitudes to the use of computers themselves. Using Student’s r-test it was found that on ten of the items there was a statistically significant disagreement between the boys and girls in the sample. The remainder showed no significant differences between boys and girls. Some of the results of the survey are presented in Table 2. The statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS v.8 [13] on an ICL Superdual 2988 mainframe. DISCUSSION

With respect to the relation between computer education and careers it is clear that although the majority of boys and girls see computing skills (item 2) as essential to future prospects significantly more boys are of this opinion. Similarly boys are less unwilling to consider a computer based career (item 8). Moore and Steele [14] have found similar trends in a smaller and younger sample. The responses to item 17 indicate that boys and more so girls see the computer related industry as an equal opportunity job environment. The girls and boys both expressed an uncertainty about the worry of needing computing skills for a job (item 12). Items 11, 13 and 15 consider how much the gender stereotyping patterns of subject preferences in the arts/science continuum are being reflected in computer education. The concern is that girls

J. R. GARDNER

296

Table

2. Attitudes

et al.

@opuldon:

to computing

boys, E 701, Girls,

Agree Statement

I. Cornouter

_. is

technoloav

2. Computing 3. No

useful

point

4. Spend

in learning

7. Boys more 8. Hope with

capable

with

how

work

computers

in computer

for young

computers

people

industry to become

to be good at mathematics

computer 12. Worry

is a good

about

computer 14. People

who

being expected

to use a

play

writing

17. Computer

for a girl

software

IS. Wordprocessor 16. Enjoy

present

in a job

13. Computer

not designed

with more

to appeal

computers suitable

to girls

are immature

for girls

programs

industry

offers equal

NS = not significant;

Agree

G%

B%

80.5

84.5

78.6

73.5

Mean

Level

G%

B

G

7.3

5.4

2 n2

2.01

8.;

1-i.

2.07

2.20

I

of sig. NS 0.01

6.8

5.3

84.0

86.5

4.01

4.00

NS

21.3

9.6

69.0

84.5

3.72

4.05

0.00 I

45.8

29.8

30.4

39.7

2.79

3.07

0.001

35.2

37.8

52.9

51.2

3.20

3.12

NS

31.8

23.0

36.

62.7

3.06

3.65

0.001

10.6

4.2

69.3

83.7

3.86

4.18

0.001

70.6

73.5

14.0

10.2

2.27

2.19

NS

23.0

21.2

48.1

47.8

3.31

3.30

NS

26.2

49.1

25.

17.3

3.01

2.62

0.001

I

I

to write

programs

I I. Computer

B%

familiar

computers

IO. Need

Nores:

games

games

to privacy

in learning

for career

9. Essential

playing

are a threat

interested

career

computer

a lot of time

5. Computers 6. Not

beneficial

for future

G 735)

Disagree

opportunities = agreement

at level

I

34.4

35.4

51.6

52.

3.22

3.17

NS

25.4

14.6

54.2

73.2

3.34

3.73

0.001

24.0

9.3

54.9

72.3

3.37

3.86

0.001

14.1

8.0

45.2

70.6

3.38

3.80

0.001

I

49.8

47.6

3.42

3.42

NS

18.0

13.9

2.69

2.55

0.01

29.2

20.

43.4

48.8

I or 2; Disagree

= disagreement

at level 4 or 5.

will view computer education much as they do science, particularly physics, and opt out, thus diminishing their awareness of the importance of computer literacy and at the same time impoverishing their future career prospects. The responses indicate that the girls saw computers as good presents for girls (item 11) and disagreed more strongly than the boys that wordprocessing is more suitable for girls (item 15). When asked about computer software girls were more certain than the boys of its appeal to girls (item 13). There was agreement from both boys and girls about the benign nature of computer technology (item 1) although boys felt more strongly than girls that computers were capable of being used intrusively (item 5). The responses indicated that both boys and girls disagreed that playing games on a computer was somehow frivolous or immature. Additionally, girls and boys do not see themselves as spending a lot of their time playing computer games, boys less so than girls (item 4). Similar work on the area of mathematics and science [ 151 has shown that the type of school is an important factor in the assessment of student attitudes and in this present study the attitudes of boys and girls at single-sex and co-educational schools have been compared. For the girls there were significant differences in attitudes to computing in only three items; 7, 10 and 15. The results shown in Table 3 indicate that although the majority of girls disagree, girls in co-educational schools were more likely than girls in single-sex schools to agree that: (a) boys were more capable of using computers (item 7); (b) you need to be good at mathematics to write a computer program (item 10); (c) using a wordprocessor is more suitable for a girl (item 15).

Table

3.

Significant

co-educational airls

attitude

schools

differences

(popularions:

405: co-educational-bovs

234.

Single-sex Group

Boys

Nores:

Item

Table

2.

eirls

and 460,

3271

Co-educational

A%

D%

A%

7

17.5

69.1

30.0

54.7

10

17.3

53.6

25.7

40.7

I5

6.7

74.3

9.8

66.4

4

18.5

74.1

26.9

59.0

7

26.5

34.6

41.5

39.3 65.4

Item

Girls

in single-sex

single-sex-boys

D%

8

8.0

71.7

15.0

I2

37.8

47.8

28.6

57.7

16

25.7

52.4

35.5

45.3

numbers;

Agree

(A)

and

Disagree

(D)

as in

Attitudes to computer studies Table

4. Reasons

for not taking

computer

Other No

Group

interest

more

studies

(populrrrion:

297 boys 429,

girls

Too

important

difficult

difficulties

Bovs (%)

28(119)

32(135)

9 (39)

32(136)

i%j

29il56j

31 il64j

9 i46j

31 il66j

Gills

Figures

in parentheses

an

actual

student

532)

Timetabling

subjects

numbers.

These findings suggest that girls in co-educational schools are more likely to be influenced by gender stereotypes in their attitudes to computers than their counterparts in single-sex schools. The implications for computer studies in co-educational schools is that a certain level of positive discrimination may be required to bolster its appeal. Targ [16] has observed that girls favoured the subject more and were more confident in the presence of boys if they have had previous exposure to competent and confident female users. Targ also noted that age had a significant effect on attitudes with an identical percentage (90%) of fifth and sixth grade girls and boys expressing a desire to be involved in computer usage. This reduced to 55% girls, 63% boys at seventh and eighth grade and 22% girls, 40% boys at high school. Although this present work (with students of the one age) could not verify these effects co-educational establishments may find gender stereotyping less of a problem if computer appreciation is offered in the early years of the secondary level education. Table 3 further indicates that there were significant differences between boys in single-sex and co-educational schools. Boys in co-educational schools appear to have more interest in computers with a larger percentage than in single-sex schools agreeing that: (a) (b) (c) (d)

they boys they they

spend more time playing computer games (item 4); were more capable of using computers than girls (item 7); were more interested in a computer based career (item 8); enjoyed writing programs (item 16).

The comparison of responses to item 12 indicate that the greater interest in computing by co-educational boys is reflected in less concern that future employment might require computing skills. Those students who had the opportunity but were not taking computer studies (429 boys, 532 girls) were asked for their reasons in deciding not to take the subject. The results are set out in Table 4. These show that there was no difference between boys (6%) and girls (6%) in thinking computer studies too difficult, and that it was a reason for only a small number of students. However, a greater percentage of girls than boys reported timetabling difficulties when choosing computer studies. This result may be indicative of the manner in which subject options are organised in schools with traditionally feminine subjects timetabled against, for example mathematics, physics and in this case computer studies. The survey has pinpointed an interesting factor which is reinforcing a “masculine” trend in the placement of computer studies in the gender-based subject spectrum. The classroom use of the computer as a learning resource (computer assisted learning and so on) is centring on those subjects which are perceived as being distinctly masculine. Ormerod’s results [7] suggested that the gender polarization placed chemistry at the extreme followed by mathematics and physics whereas religious education was most feminine followed by English and French. In this current survey the students were asked to indicate in which subjects they encountered computers most. The results are presented in Table 5. The findings show clearly that the use of computers in the classroom was strongly associated with the scientific/mathematical end of the curriculum. It was hardly seen in the English department, and in the more traditionally feminine subject of home economics, there was very little Table

5. Subjects

in which

computer

is most

used Home

Subject

C.A.E. 10/2-D

Math.

Phys.

Chem.

Geog.

Eng.

econ.

Boys

%

55

52

27

22

I

4

Girls

%

58

52

32

16

2

I2

J. R. GARDNER et at.

298

exposure. The criticism of the school computer(s) disappearing into the mathematics and science department appears to be supported by these results. CONCLUSIONS It is clear that both boys and girls in the sample agreed that computers were beneficial to our society although they differ on the extent to which they could become a threat to privacy. The fact that boys and girls are aware of this can be viewed as a healthy aspect of their attitudes towards computer education. Students in the sample also agreed that computing skills were essential for future employment and mean scores for boys and girls were weighted towards the agreement of the scale with boys significantly more so than girls. Boys and girls therefore, perceive the need for computer education although girls’ results suggest that its presentation is not sufficiently “girlfriendly”. The results of this survey make it clear that girls perceive computer studies as having a masculine image both in its use and presentation. It appears also that as a consequence of working more closely with boys in co-ed schools, girls perceive computing in a more narrowly mathematical context and also see themselves as less capable than boys with respect to computer studies. The use of computers in the classroom seems also to conform to stereotypical patterns with mathematics and science subjects making most use of them and English least use. The findings for girls in the sample need to be interpreted with caution. They show that on the one hand girls look upon computer technology as socially beneficial and that the acquisition of computer skills is important for career prospects, yet on the other hand, they do not appear to be taking opportunities to study computer science to the same extent as boys. If this picture is an accurate reflection of male and female differences to computing, it is evident that girls are in danger of not taking their full share of computer based opportunities in school and subsequently when choosing careers,

NOTES

FOR NON-UK

READERS

This work refers to sixth-form students. Mandatory secondary-level education in the U.K. usually begins at 1l/12 years of age (first-fog) and ends at fifth-form (15/16 years). Pupils have the choice of taking Ordinary-“W-level-Genera1 Certificate in Education (GCE) or Certificate in Secondary Education (CSE) examinations. (In 1986 these will be replaced by General Certificate in Secondary Education (GCSE) examinations.) Sixth-form students are those who have chosen to study for Advanced-“A’‘-level-GCE examinations leading to university entry. Lower sixth-form (16/17 years) and upper sixth-form (17/l 8 years) are the first and second years of this study period respectively. ~C~~~~~e~ge~e~r-The support of the Equal Opportunities gratefully acknowledged.

Commission (N. !re!and), in facilitating this research, is

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