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• 1. [Article] Effectiveness of end-user debugging software features : are there gender issues?

  Although gender differences in a technological world are receiving significant research attention, much of the research and practice has aimed at how society and education can impact the successes and ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Effectiveness of end-user debugging software features : are there gender issues? Author: Cook, Curtis R., Beckwith, Laura A., Burnett, Margaret, 1949-, Sorte, Shraddha, Wiedenbeck, Susan, Hastings, Michelle, Oregon State University. Dept. of Computer Science Although gender differences in a technological world are receiving significant research attention, much of the research and practice has aimed at how society and education can impact the successes and retention of female computer science professionals—but the possibility of gender issues within software has received almost no attention. If gender issues exist with some types of software features, it is possible that accommodating them by changing these features can increase effectiveness, but only if we know what these issues are. In this paper, we empirically investigate gender differences for end users in the context of debugging spreadsheets. Our results uncover significant gender differences in feature acceptance, and show that these differences can significantly impact effectiveness. Title: Effectiveness of end-user debugging software features : are there gender issues? Author: Cook, Curtis R., Beckwith, Laura A., Burnett, Margaret, 1949-, Sorte, Shraddha, Wiedenbeck, Susan, Hastings, Michelle, Oregon State University. Dept. of Computer Science Although gender differences in a technological world are receiving significant research attention, much of the research and practice has aimed at how society and education can impact the successes and retention of female computer science professionals—but the possibility of gender issues within software has received almost no attention. If gender issues exist with some types of software features, it is possible that accommodating them by changing these features can increase effectiveness, but only if we know what these issues are. In this paper, we empirically investigate gender differences for end users in the context of debugging spreadsheets. Our results uncover significant gender differences in feature acceptance, and show that these differences can significantly impact effectiveness. Close

• 2. [Article] Gender differences in end-user debugging strategies

  Little is known about the strategies end-user programmers use in debugging their programs, and even less is known about gender differences that may exist in these strategies. Without this type of information, ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Gender differences in end-user debugging strategies Author: Cook, Curtis R., Drummond, Russell, Bucht, Karin, Subrahmaniyan, Neeraja, Grigoreanu, Valentina I., Wiedenbeck, Susan, Burnett, Margaret, 1947-, Beckwith, Laura A., Oregon State University. Dept. of Computer Science Little is known about the strategies end-user programmers use in debugging their programs, and even less is known about gender differences that may exist in these strategies. Without this type of information, end-user programming systems cannot know the "target" at which to aim, if they are to support male and female end-user programmers' debugging. In this paper, we present a study investigating this issue. We asked a group of end-user programmers to debug spreadsheets and to describe the strategies they used to carry out this task. Using quantitative and qualitative methods, we analyzed the strategies reported, considered whether the strategies could be confirmed by observations of participants' behaviors, and looked for relation-ships among participants' strategy choices, gender, and debugging success. Our results indicate that males and females debug in quite different ways, that there are considerable opportunities for improving support for end-user debugging strategies for both genders, and that the types of features commonly found to aid debugging may be especially deficient in supporting strategies the females prefer to use in debugging. Title: Gender differences in end-user debugging strategies Author: Cook, Curtis R., Drummond, Russell, Bucht, Karin, Subrahmaniyan, Neeraja, Grigoreanu, Valentina I., Wiedenbeck, Susan, Burnett, Margaret, 1947-, Beckwith, Laura A., Oregon State University. Dept. of Computer Science Little is known about the strategies end-user programmers use in debugging their programs, and even less is known about gender differences that may exist in these strategies. Without this type of information, end-user programming systems cannot know the "target" at which to aim, if they are to support male and female end-user programmers' debugging. In this paper, we present a study investigating this issue. We asked a group of end-user programmers to debug spreadsheets and to describe the strategies they used to carry out this task. Using quantitative and qualitative methods, we analyzed the strategies reported, considered whether the strategies could be confirmed by observations of participants' behaviors, and looked for relation-ships among participants' strategy choices, gender, and debugging success. Our results indicate that males and females debug in quite different ways, that there are considerable opportunities for improving support for end-user debugging strategies for both genders, and that the types of features commonly found to aid debugging may be especially deficient in supporting strategies the females prefer to use in debugging. Close