Clustering Analysis of Attitudes of Prospective Computer Programmers towards Programming

Abstract

This study aim to determine the clustering tendencies of attitude variables of the students studying at computer programming department towards computer programming and inspect whether factors such as gender, grade and type of education (daytime and evening education) have an influence on the clusters obtained from the analysis. The study is conducted in fall semester of 2013-2014 academic year. The sample of the study consists of 947 students from 12 universities in different regions of Turkey. “Attitude Scale toward Computer Programming†is used as a data collecting tool. Clustering tendencies of attitude variables are determined by hierarchical clustering analysis. Independent t-test is used to determine whether gender, grade and type of education influence these clusters. Attitude variables of the students are collected under six clusters named “To become prominent in programmingâ€, “Need for programming and importance of itâ€, “Interest for programming and success rateâ€, “Failure in programmingâ€, “Indifference in programming†and “Unimportance of programmingâ€. It has been seen that gender factor has a significant effect on “Interest for programming and success rateâ€, “Failure in programmingâ€, and “Indifference in programming†clusters and, grade factor has significant effect on “Interest for programming and success rateâ€, “Failure in programmingâ€, “Indifference in programming†and “Unimportance of programming†statistically. Type of education factor has no statistically significant effect on these clusters.