Different is good: barriers to retention for women in software engineering

The study is the initial activity in a proposed longitudinal study of female students in the Software Engineering program at a small private technical university in the US. In imitation of a national trend, the female students were perceived to be dropping out of the software engineering program in greater numbers and for different reasons than the male students. An examination of the number of students leaving the university and a questionnaire for the newest students entering the university were completed. The results of the study confirmed the initial perception. To produce a large enough sample for meaningful analysis, the dropout tracking will continue and the questionnaire used initially will be given to a new group of students, after which the entire data set will be analyzed