Computer science club for girls and boys – a survey study on gender differences

Figures & data

Table 1. Overview of the questionnaire

Categories	Questions	Response options
Demographics	Gender	Single choice (male, Female).
	Age	Free text.
View of CS	When you think of “computer science” what comes into your mind?	Multiple choice (16 alternatives. See Table 6 for a complete list of alternatives).
Future study and work plans	What do you want to be when you grow up?	Free text.
	Do you think you might want to work in natural science, technology, or computer science?	Single choice (yes; no; I don’t know).
	Follow-up question: Why do/don’t you want to work in natural science, technology, or computer science?	Multiple choice (12 and 13 alternatives respectively. See Table 7 and Section 5.4 for the alternatives).
	Although it is a long way off, which of the following best describes your study plans?	Single choice (Five alternatives. See Table 8 for a complete list of alternatives).
Parental attitudes and values	One or both my parents: Think it is important for me to learn natural science, technology, and CS Think natural science, technology, and CS is very interesting. Has explained to me that natural science, technology, and CS is useful for me in the future. Expect me to go to university. Knows a lot about natural science, technology, and CS.	Likert scale (1: strongly disagree, 5: strongly agree).
Future CS work aspirations	In the future, I would like to work as a computer scientist. In the future, I would like to work with programming or developing computer systems. People who are like me, work with programming or computer science when they grow up.	Likert scale (1: strongly disagree, 5: strongly agree).
Appreciating CS	I know quite a lot about CS. Getting young people to understand CS is important for our society. It is useful to know about CS in my daily life. Other people think I am interested in CS and that I know a lot about CS.	Likert scale (1: strongly disagree, 5: strongly agree).
Engagement in CS and science	How often do you do the following things outside of school? Read or leaf through books or magazines about natural science, technology, and CS Watch TV and/or Internet programmes/channels related to natural science, technology, and CS (e.g., documentaries, Big Bang Theory etc.) Go online to find out about natural science, technology, and CS (e.g., Youtube, forums, games)	Likert scale (1: strongly disagree, 5: strongly agree).
Social support	When you are not in school, do you talk or chat with someone about natural science, technology, or computer science, or about things related to computers?	Likert scale (1: never 5: almost every day).
	Follow-up question: Who do you primarily talk with about natural science, technology, or computer science, or about things related to computers?	Single choice (friends; family e.g., parents, siblings, grandparents, cousins, aunts; teachers; other please specify).

Table 6. Number of responses and percentage by gender to the question: “When you think of the word ‘computer science’ what comes into your mind?”

Options	Boys (N = 115)		Girls (N = 39)
	f	%	f	%
Programming	99	25	36	24
Games, robots	77	19	33	22
Binary notation (ones and zeros; 1,0)	58	15	23	15.5
Ideas, invention, discovery, research	43	11	12	8
Advancement, the future, better world	31	8	14	9.5
Engineering	25	6	6	4
Vehicles, e.g., cars, airplanes, rockets	18	5	7	5
Experiment, inquisitive, understanding	15	4	7	5
Economic benefits, jobs within the sciences	11	3	6	4
Health, drugs, healthcare	4	1	2	1
School, exams, lessons, teachers	2	0.5	2	1
Social sciences, economics, psychology	3	1	0	0
Biology, chemistry, physics	1	0.25	0	0
Environment, nature, plants, animals	1	0.25	0	0
None	0	0	0	0
Other, please specify	8	2	2	1
Total	396	100	150	100
Median number of options selected	4		4

Table 7. Number of responses and percentage by gender to the question: “Why do you want to work in natural science, technology, or CS in the future?”

Options	Boys (N = 83)		Girls (N = 24)
	f	%	f	%
Interesting	58	19.5	21	21.4
Opportunities to design new technology	50	16.8	15	15.3
Personally satisfying	39	13.1	6	6.1
Opportunities to make exciting new discoveries	37	12.5	12	12.2
Lots of different types of jobs available	33	11.1	17	17.3
Well paid	32	10.8	10	10.2
Opportunity to help others	17	5.7	10	10.2
Good work/life balance	17	5.7	7	7.1
Well respected/high status	7	2.4	0	0
Secure	5	1.7	0	0
I don’t know	2	0.7	2	1
Other, please specify	0	0	0	0
Total	297	100	98	100
Median number of options selected	4		5

Table 8. Number of responses and percentage by gender to the question: “Although it is a long way off, which of the following best describes your view?”

Options	Boys (N = 115)		Girls (N = 39)
	f	%	f	%
I want to study a program that focuses on CS in upper secondary school (gymnasium)	55	47.8	14	35.9
I want to study a program that focuses on natural science and technology in upper secondary school (gymnasium)	37	32.2	12	30.8
I do not want to study a program that focuses on technical or natural science but do not mind taking a few natural- or computer science courses in upper secondary school (gymnasium)	11	9.6	4	10.3
I do not want to study anything related to natural science, technology, or CS in upper secondary school (gymnasium)	5	4.3	4	10.3
I do not know yet	7	6.1	5	12.8

Table 2. Results of Alpha coefficient in different samples

	Alpha coefficient for sample age range 9–16	Alpha coefficient for sample age range 11–16
Parental attitudes and values	.745	.761
Future CS work aspirations	.734	.707
Engagement in CS and science	.646	.649
Appreciating CS	.601	.517

Table 3. Results of factor analysis

Areas	Factor 1	2	3	4
Parental attitudes and values One or both my parents: Think it is important for me to learn natural science, technology, and CS Think natural science, technology, and CS is very interesting Has explained to me that natural science, technology, and CS is useful for me in the future Expect me to go to university Knows a lot about natural science, technology, and CS	.749.623.593.560.535
Future CS work aspirations In the future, I would like to work as a computer scientist In the future, I would like to work with programming or developing computer systems People who are like me, work with programming or computer science when they grow up		.800.676.554
Appreciating CS I know quite a lot about CS Getting young people to understand CS is important for our society It is useful to know about CS in my daily life Other people think I am interested in CS and that I know a lot about CS.			.538.514.493.350
Engagement in CS and science How often do you do the following things outside of school? Read or leaf through books or magazines about natural science, technology, and CS Watch TV and/or Internet programmes/channels related to natural science, technology, and CS (e.g., documentaries, Big Bang Theory etc.) Go online to find out about natural science, technology, and CS (e.g., Youtube, forums, games)				.670.614.429
% of variance explained	13.5%	13%	9.3%	8.8%

Table 4. Gender differences by factor

Factor	Boys (N = 115) Mdn	Girls (N = 39) Mdn	Gender differences
			U	z	p	r
Parental attitudes and values	5	5	2165	−.370	.711	-
Future CS work aspirations	4	3	1451	–3.474	.001	.3
Appreciating CS	4.5	4	1565	–2.952	.003	.2
Engagement in CS and science	5	4	1760	−2.390	.017	.1

Table 5. Who girls and boys talk to about natural science, technology, or CS, or about things related to computers outside of school

	Boys (N = 115)		Girls (N = 39)
	f %		f %
Friends	62	53.9	14	35.9
Family members	36	31.3	20	51.3
Teachers	2	1.7	1	2.6
Other	7	6.1	1	2.6