IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2021 - 55

comes to CS and engineering, there is still a noticeable
differential. Though there are a confluence
of factors at play that cause this differential, such
as gender discrimination, lack of encouragement
from parents and teachers, and present underrepresentation,
stereotyping is one of them.
The qualities associated with the " ideal " computer
scientist have typically been more valued
in males than in females, likely contributing to
the lack of female representation in the field. The
imagery of a computer scientist is also often at odds
with traditional gender expectations that affect the
willingness of females to pursue CS. Without the
sense of belonging that their male counterparts
tend to feel within the culture of the field, female
computer scientists are less likely to stay in CS and
females, in general, feel less welcome to CS and
engineering.
Dataset and methodology
Dataset collection and consideration
As stated in the previous section, stereotypes
affect mental health, and this is demonstrated by
research that is both quantitative and qualitative
in nature. However, on the topic of specifically
how CS and engineering stereotypes have affected
mental health, there has been little to no empirical
experiments on the topic, which contributes to the
decision of looking for written sources and need to
conduct qualitative analysis.
The sources collected are primarily textual,
including past academic research, articles, and
formal reports. These were sourced from academic
conferences, journals, and other forms of formal
publications within the research community. However,
to broaden the scope of data collection by
honoring the voices of those who personally deal
with mental health difficulties, this article also considered
personal narratives and testimonials. While
some of these sources may be found on official
platforms such as student-run newspapers at universities,
others were published online on more
informal settings, including blog posts and social
media. Although the sources are mostly from the
United States and are all in English, the problem of
CS stereotypes negatively impacting mental health
is by no means limited to this geographic and
linguistic limitation.
September 2021
Effects of stereotyping in CS
The remainder of this article asserts that the stereotypes
within CS contribute to the mental health
issues that are apparent among members of the field.
Technology-oriented and singularly focused on
computers
Being technology-oriented and singularly focused
on computers means that computer scientists have
strong interests in programming and electronics,
with little interest in anything or anyone else. This
stereotype borders on the edge of " obsession " with
machines, where computer scientists have been
described to " dream in code, " presenting interest in
computers as part of a biological process that one
innately does (or does not) have. Although degree
programs combining CS with the humanities exist
55
Qualitative analysis approach
The textual characteristics of the sources collected
for this article as well as other relevant
sources that depict CS stereotypes through qualitative
means inspired the overall qualitative assessment
approach. These English-language texts that
were mostly from American contexts were analyzed
by an English-speaker with qualifications from the
U.S. higher education system.
Since the sources collected were written, albeit
with a variety of audiences, purposes, and styles,
the textual analysis conducted on them consisted
of content analysis, thematic analysis, and discourse
analysis. Content analysis for the purposes of this
approach means looking directly at the meaning
of the text itself-words, phrases, and sentences.
Thematic analysis extends this content analysis by
searching for underlying themes and patterns. Discourse
analysis places the derivations from the content
and thematic analyses in the broader social
contexts. With the combination of these three types
of textual analysis, this article then organizes any
findings according to the stereotype's relation to
those findings.
After identifying the component of the CS stereotypes
most evident within each source (although
sources were not limited to just one component and
could fall under multiple), a close reading along the
guidelines of content, thematic, and discourse analysis
highlighted any inferences and considerations
with regard to the effects of that stereotype component
on mental health.
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - September 2021

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