Abstract:

Draw a Scientist Test (DAST) was developed in the 1980s with the aim to investigate children’s perception of a scientist and the development of the common societal stereotypes associated with the scientist profession. Since then similar tests were used to investigate societal stereotypes associated with other professions in young populations, e.g. Draw an Engineer Test, etc.

We are interested in understanding children’s perception of the information and communication technology (ICT) field and of the possible career prospects in this field. Specifically, we are interested in understanding if this field is perceived as a suitable career prospect by boys and girls and surveying the prevalence of other common societal stereotypes associated with the ICT field.

For this reason, we have proposed a variant of DAST that we call Draw a Programmer Test (DAPT). The test was administered by a survey where respondents were asked to draw a programmer, their colleagues, and their working environment. The form also contained basic demographic questions and some cross-check questions.

While the main objective of this research was to find out how students perceive the programmer's profession in terms of gender, when analyzing the data we also dealt with other issues, thus we compared the view of those who knew a programmer personally with the others; responses of particular age categories, etc.

We have collected data from 172 respondents - students of several secondary schools aged 12-14 of which 92 were girls and 80 boys.

Our analysis showed that most respondents admit that a woman can be employed as a programmer. More than 62% of the students had this opinion. However, a more detailed analysis of the boys' vs. the girls' responses revealed that this high percentage was mainly achieved by the girls' answers. Up to 62.5% of boys see programming only as a male job, while more than 75% of female respondents consider it to be suitable for women. We consider this finding to be positive, as such a girls' opinion can direct their further education and career choices to the information technology area.

Keywords:

Drawing-based instrument, career prospects, ICT, gender issues.