A Qualitative Investigation of African Americans’ Decision to Pursue Computing Science Degrees: Implications for Cultivating Career Choice and Aspiration

Abstract

Pearson (2002) claims that underrepresented groups are underrepresented in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields. African Americans are one of these under-represented populations. For the sake of the American economy, it is crucial to increase the number of people studying computer science and other STEM subjects (J. F. L. Jackson, Charleston, George, and Gilbert, in press; Moore, 2006; Pearson, 2002). The author sheds light on the lives of African American students pursuing degrees in computing at the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral levels via the use of the grounded theory methodology. There are implications for encouraging participants to pursue computer science degrees and for encouraging them to pursue their professional goals in general that stem from the findings of this research. The research yielded a heuristic approach for increasing access to computers.