2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This research paper describes the development and initial validation of an instrument to measure students’ inclusive attitudes and behaviors within computer science and its sensitivity to intervention effects. The lack of diversity within computing degree programs and fields has been an ongoing concern for several years. National programs and initiatives have placed a high priority on broadening participation in computer science and making the computing culture more inclusive of women and ethnic groups typically underrepresented in computer science. Only small gains have been documented. In this study, a measure of university students’ valuing of diversity and willingness to act inclusively within engineering contexts— a field with similar diversity concerns — was adapted and modified specifically for computer science. The adaptation of this engineering-based scale, the Valuing Diversity and Enacting Inclusion in Engineering (VDEIE), for computer science (VDEI-CS) was considered applicable given the common practice of housing computer science departments within engineering colleges or schools and engineering having similar problems with underrepresentation. After adapting the scale, validation efforts utilizing confirmatory factor analysis and multiple indicators multiple causes structural equation modeling affirmed that the VDEI-CS produced valid and reliable scores to gauge measures of inclusion and diversity within computer science students. Next, a small pilot study was conducted to determine if the VDIE-CS was sensitive enough to detect the effect of a series of computer science interventions geared towards enhancing first-year students’ value of diversity and willingness to act inclusively in computing contexts. Though the study was preliminary, results of the multilevel analysis demonstrated promise that the VDEI-CS was sensitive enough to detect changes as students in the intervention group demonstrated statistically significantly greater gains in their willingness to challenge discriminatory behaviors than students in the control group. The primary purpose of this study is to relay to the computing research community a tool to assess student attitudes toward the value of diversity and inclusive behaviors in computing contexts that will enable researchers to gauge the temperature of a group of students and assess the effect of interventions developed to promote change within the culture.