Exploring the Gender Effect on Cognitive Processes in Program Debugging based on Eye-movement Analysis

Ting-Yun Hou, Yu-Tzu Lin, Yu-Chih Lin, Chia-Hu Chang, Miao-Hsuan Yen

2013

Abstract

This study addresses the gender differences of cognitive processes involved in program debugging. In the experiment, twenty-five participants were asked to find bugs in the test programs. Eye-movement analysis was employed to track the students’ gaze paths while they traced and tried to debug the programs. Cognitive processes were then obtained by employing sequential analysis of gaze data to investigate the significant sequences of attention areas. Cognitive processes of different genders were investigated by comparing the tracing sequences of program debugging. The experimental results show that both genders had limited working memory capacities for debugging the iterative program with complex computation. But females needed more manual calculation for the recursive program in this study. For the iterative structure, females tended to grasp the program requirements and then trace into the major part of the program, while males traced the change of output value according to the logic of the iterative statements. For the recursive problem, females traced the flow of recursive induction and the stop condition to execute the program and find bugs, while males traced the recursive function in a more leaping way. This study leaks the gender differences of cognitive processes in program debugging, based on which instructors/researchers can develop adaptive computer programming instruction for students of different genders.

References

  1. Adams J. W. and Hitch G. J., Working memory and children's mental addition. Journal of experimental child psychology, 1997;67(1): 21-38.
  2. Bakeman R. Observing interaction : an introduction to sequential analysis. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986.
  3. Bednarik, R. (2011). Expertise-dependent visual attention strategies develop over time during debugging with multiple code representations. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 70(2), 143-155.
  4. Bednarik, R., Myller, N., Sutinen, E., & Tukiainen, M. (2006). Program visualization: Comparing eye-tracking patterns with comprehension summaries and performance. In ACM Proceedings of the 18th Workshop of the Psychology of Programming Interest Group, 68-82.
  5. Chen, H. C., Lai, H. D., & Chiu, F.C. (2010). Eye tracking technology for learning and education. Research in Education Sciences, 4, 39-68.
  6. Costelloe, E. (2004). Teaching programming: The state of the art. CRITE Technical Report, Centre for Research in I.T. in Education.
  7. Fitzgerald, S. (2008). Debugging: Finding, Fixing and Flailing, a Multi-Institutional Study of Novice Debuggers. Computer Science Education, vol. 18, 93-116.
  8. Just, M.A., Carpenter, P.A. (1984). Using eye fixations to study reading comprehension. New Methods in Reading Comprehension Research. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 151-182.
  9. Lahtinen E. (2005). A study of the difficulties of novice programmers. SIGCSE Bull., 37, 14-18.
  10. Mackintosh N. J. and .Bennett E. S, The fractionation of working memory maps on to different components of intelligence. Intelligence, 2003;31:519-531.
  11. Marzieh, A. Dave, E., & Colin, H. (2005). An analysis of patterns of debugging among novice computer science students. ITiCSE, 84-88.
  12. Perkins, D. & Martin, F. (1986). Fragile knowledge and neglected strategies in novice programmers. Proceedings of the first workshop on empirical studies of programmers on Empirical studies of programmers, 213-229.
  13. Sabah AL-Fedaghi. (2012). Conceptual framework for recursion in computer programming. Journal of Theoretical and Applied Information Technology, 46(2), 983-990.
  14. Sanders, M.S., & McCormick, E.J. (1987). Human factors in engineering and design. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Download


Paper Citation


in Harvard Style

Hou T., Lin Y., Lin Y., Chang C. and Yen M. (2013). Exploring the Gender Effect on Cognitive Processes in Program Debugging based on Eye-movement Analysis . In Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 1: CSEDU, ISBN 978-989-8565-53-2, pages 469-473. DOI: 10.5220/0004415104690473


in Bibtex Style

@conference{csedu13,
author={Ting-Yun Hou and Yu-Tzu Lin and Yu-Chih Lin and Chia-Hu Chang and Miao-Hsuan Yen},
title={Exploring the Gender Effect on Cognitive Processes in Program Debugging based on Eye-movement Analysis},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 1: CSEDU,},
year={2013},
pages={469-473},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0004415104690473},
isbn={978-989-8565-53-2},
}


in EndNote Style

TY - CONF
JO - Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 1: CSEDU,
TI - Exploring the Gender Effect on Cognitive Processes in Program Debugging based on Eye-movement Analysis
SN - 978-989-8565-53-2
AU - Hou T.
AU - Lin Y.
AU - Lin Y.
AU - Chang C.
AU - Yen M.
PY - 2013
SP - 469
EP - 473
DO - 10.5220/0004415104690473