Communal Goal Fulfillment through Group Work:
A New Direction in Recruiting Women into Computer Science
Amanda Kay Montoya, Allison Master, & Sapna Cheryan
University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Background
Stereotype
Experience
Increasing the perception that computer science can
fulfill communal goals, helps recruit women to
3
computer science .
(1 Strongly Disagree– 7 Strongly Agree)
Communal goals, those related to
working with and helping others, and
a higher priority for women than for
men3.
7
Perceived Group Work
Computer scientists are inaccurately
stereotyped as asocial loners1. Those
in computer science state that the field
involves a lot of group work.
Students expect computer science to
have least amount of group work
6
4
3
1
Computer Science Engineering
Communal Goal Fulfillment α = .79 & .80
e.g. “Taking a class where we work in
groups/individually would assist me in
helping others”
Other goals: serving the community,
working with others, connecting to others,
caring for others
Communal Goal Endorsement α = .81
e.g. “Helping others is important to me
personally”
Other goals: working with others,
connecting to others, caring for others,
serving the community
Expected Group Work
e.g. “Taking a biology class would likely
involve a lot of group work.”
Other classes: engineering, psychology,
computer science
Preference for Group Work α = .86
I would prefer to work as part of a group
rather than work alone.
Working as a member of a group increases
my ability to perform.
I generally prefer to work as an individual.
I would prefer a class with group work
compared to one where we work
individually.
Psychology
Error bars are 95% Confidence Intervals
Biology
Communal Goal
Fulfillment
F(3,290)= 39.90, p < .001
Classes with group work are
perceived as fulfilling more communal goals
Women’s
Interest
Group Work
7
(1 Strongly Disagree– 7 Strongly Agree)
Questionnaire
Increasing group work in computer science could
attract women by appealing to their goals.
Proposed Model
Communal Fulfillment
Participants: Students (N = 296, 184 female) in an
introductory psychology class took paper survey. Mean
age 18.84 (SD = 2.32).
Classes with group work communicate more communal
goal fulfillment.
5
Hypotheses
Methods
Despite computer science having considerable group
work it was perceived as having the least amount of
group work of all the STEM fields.
2
Does the kind of work in a class communicate
whether that class fulfills communal goals?
Students will expect less group work in CS than other
STEM fields.
Students will perceive classes with group work to
fulfill more communal goals than classes with
individual work.
Students who endorse communal goals will also
prefer group work.
Conclusions
6
Future Directions
5
4
Does adding group work to computer science classes
increase women’s interest?
3
Does having group work in classes change people’s
perceptions of the field overall?
2
1
Individual Work
Error bars are 95% Confidence Intervals
Group Work
t(294)= 26.19, p < .001
Students’ communal goal endorsement
was positively correlated with preference
for group work r(292) = .26, p < .001
Could there be unintended consequences of adding
group work to computer science (e.g. threat)?
References
1 Margolis, J., & Fisher, A. (2000). The anatomy of interest: Women in undergraduate computer science. Women’s
studies quarterly, 28(1/2), 104-127.
2 Bair, B., & Marcus, M. (2007). Women’s interest in information technology: The fun factor. Reconfiguring the
Firewall: Recruiting women to information technology across cultures and continents (pp. 161 – 175).
3 Diekman, A. B., Clark, E. K., Johnston, A. M., Brown, E. R., & Steinberg, M. (2011). Malleability in communal
goals and beliefs influences attraction to STEM careers: Evidence for a goal congruity perspective. JPSP 101(5),
902-918.
4 Campion, M. A., Medsker, G. J., & Higgs, A. C. (1993). Relations between work group characteristics and
effectiveness. Personnel Psychology, 46(4), 823-850