Despite research and policy efforts to broaden participation, computing education in the United Kingdom and Ireland is still characterised by low levels of participation and diversity among its student population. Recent research suggests that capital plays a significant role in student participation, referring to the legitimate, valuable and exchangeable resources which can be used to generate social advantage within specific fields. This Research in Practice Project Activity (RIPPA) will investigate a survey developed to measure forms of capital which enable students to participate in computing-related fields, and succeed in it. The survey will be distributed by RIPPA participants among universities all over the United Kingdom and Ireland. Using Confirmatory Factor Analysis, the hypothesised survey structure will be assessed in terms of model fit to the observed data, and adjusted to achieve a survey with high internal consistency among the items and factors. With the proposed model, group differences will be investigated using the Mann-Whitney U test. In addition, thematic analysis of open-ended questions will further reveal the motivation of why students engage with computing education. Ultimately, the goal of this collaborative research effort is to broaden participation in computing education in the United Kingdom and Ireland, by developing an understanding of the factors underlying student participation, and how this relates to various forms of capital that students have access to.
A persistent problem in computing education and careers in the United Kingdom and Ireland has been the underrepresentation of disadvantaged groups, in particular as it relates to race, gender, and ethnicity 3 . Recent research suggests that capital plays a significant role in computing education participation 2, 4, 6 , the legitimate, valuable, and exchangeable resources which can be used to generate social advantage within specific fields 1 . Capital extends beyond its economic definition, and can also be analysed in social and cultural terms, for example being a member of an influential family, or having skills, habits, and tastes that are considered to be valuable and exchangeable. In computing education, a literature review of 147 academic publications identified nine forms of capital in computing education spanning across cultural, social, and psychological domains 2 . Considered dimensions are, for example, having access to a supportive environment, possessing knowledge and skills, and experiencing a sense of belonging to the field of computing. In the academic literature, these forms of capital have shown to affect student participation in the subject. A follow-up empirical study developed and validated a survey based on the framework, and confirmed that said forms of capital relate to participation in the field, with the effect being the strongest for male computing students 6 .
In this RIPPA, the validated survey instrument will be used for investigating the factors underlying participation in computing education in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Using groups based on gender, university, region, and perceived socioeconomic status, the following research questions are to be answered:
In addition, data collected in this study can be compared with the findings from the original study, which involved Swedish university students 6 . Doing so will further highlight social and cultural differences in computing education participation, and how this is influenced by capital.
The goals of the RIPPA are:
Using the research instrument which has been developed 5 , data will be collected at a variety of universities across the United Kingdom and Ireland. The goal is to include a wide variety of universities across geographical regions in order to increase the representativeness of the sample. With the data collected, a Confirmatory Factor Analysis will be conducted, where the survey structure will be assessed in terms of model fit to the observed data, and adjusted to achieve a survey with high internal consistency among the items and factors. Using the validated survey structure, a Mann-Whittney U test will be used to analyse group differences in the data. For example, students can be grouped by gender, university, region, and perceived socioeconomic status in order to assess the influence of these variables on participation. The survey will also include open-ended questions, where students reflect on their motivation to study their subject of choice, and the factors influencing this. A thematic analysis on the data collected here will further reveal factors underlying participation in computing education, and how this relates to the various forms of capital.