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“Two majors, both alike in dignity?” Investigating Differences in Student Capital Between Majors Within a CS Program
“Two majors, both alike in dignity?” Investigating Differences in Student Capital Between Majors Within a CS Program
The Laboratory for Advanced Software Engineering Research (LASER) is dedicated to investigating techniques for reducing software development and maintenance costs while simultaneously improving the quality of the systems produced. LASER is aggressively attacking the problem of assuring the quality of software. Modern systems are increasingly dependent upon software which is becoming increasingly complex. The growing size of such systems, and their increasing reliance upon such features as concurrency and distribution creates new concerns and challenges.
Project Description:
Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of Capital and Habitus have been widely used to investigate inequality. Bourdieu defined capital as assets which are put to use and which interact with aesthetic tastes and class distinctions. He defined 4 types: economic, cultural, social, and symbolic. Relevant to issues of inequality is his concept of Symbolic Violence, whereby the power differential between social groups causes certain positions to be imposed upon dominated groups and accepted as just by virtue of being held by the dominant group.
Recently, interest in broadening participation in CS has led academics to begin applying his theories within the context of CS Education. This project aims to expand on existing work to determine whether the framework of Capital can be used to describe differences between students who choose CS or Informatics as their major within CICS at UMass. By identifying trends in capital between these groups, the results of this project can be leveraged to provide additional support for incoming students, better market programs to prospective students, and guide decision making on how to increase interest in computing among underrepresented populations.
Learning Objectives:
Student should be able to:
- Conduct basic procedures for human-subjects data gathering with support from faculty and graduate students.
- Apply knowledge of best practices and regulations when conducting research with human subjects.
- Analyze collected data using appropriate methodology.
- Synthesize findings from different sources to generate deeper understanding of the way social systems interact.
Skills needed:
- CITI Human-Subjects Training (available free through UMass)
- Creation and administration of survey and interview protocols.
- Quantitative and qualitative analysis of human subjects data and semi-structured (or un-structured) text.
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