scholarly journals A theory on individual characteristics of successful coding challenge solvers

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. e173 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marvin Wyrich ◽  
Daniel Graziotin ◽  
Stefan Wagner
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Students ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Hiring Decisions ◽  
Empirical Theory ◽  
False Negatives ◽  
Software Engineers ◽  
Hiring Costs ◽  
Successful Technology

Background Assessing a software engineer’s ability to solve algorithmic programming tasks has been an essential part of technical interviews at some of the most successful technology companies for several years now. We do not know to what extent individual characteristics, such as personality or programming experience, predict the performance in such tasks. Decision makers’ unawareness of possible predictor variables has the potential to bias hiring decisions which can result in expensive false negatives as well as in the unintended exclusion of software engineers with actually desirable characteristics. Methods We conducted an exploratory quantitative study with 32 software engineering students to develop an empirical theory on which individual characteristics predict the performance in solving coding challenges. We developed our theory based on an established taxonomy framework by Gregor (2006). Results Our findings show that the better coding challenge solvers also have better exam grades and more programming experience. Furthermore, conscientious as well as sad software engineers performed worse in our study. We make the theory available in this paper for empirical testing. Discussion The theory raises awareness to the influence of individual characteristics on the outcome of technical interviews. Should the theory find empirical support in future studies, hiring costs could be reduced by selecting appropriate criteria for preselecting candidates for on-site interviews and potential bias in hiring decisions could be reduced by taking suitable measures.

The Adoption of Open Source Desktop Software

2012 ◽  
pp. 218-235
Author(s):  
Kris Ven ◽  
Geert Van Kerckhoven ◽  
Jan Verelst
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Business Case ◽  
Informed Decision ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Added Value ◽  
User Perceptions ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Insight Into

More organizations are currently migrating toward open source desktop software (OSDS). However, such migration is complex. More insight into the process will assist decision makers in making a well-informed decision on whether or not to migrate to OSDS and in building a strong business case to support this decision. In this paper, the authors present the results of a qualitative study in seven Belgian organizations and report on why these organizations have adopted OSDS and how the migration was undertaken. These cases represent challenging adoptions of OSDS. Results indicate that providing added value for users can positively influence user perceptions. In addition, the authors found strong empirical support for the guidelines with respect to the migration to OSDS that have been proposed in academic literature.

Constructing Conducive Environment for Women of Color in Engineering Undergraduate Education

2017 ◽  
pp. 416-440
Author(s):  
Hyun Kyoung Ro ◽  
Kadian McIntosh
Keyword(s):  
Women Students ◽  
Black Women ◽  
Women Of Color ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
White Women ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Engineering Programs ◽  
Academic Environments ◽  
Four Year Institutions

The engineering field, in particular, struggles to recruit and retain students, especially women of color. Thus, consideration of how academic environments, such as treatment by faculty and peers, interaction with faculty, and available resources for learning and tutoring, uniquely affect women of color is examined. Several theories, such as critical racial theory, intersectionality, and campus climate framework, highlight the importance of examining individual characteristics and details of the environmental context. This study used data from a sample of 850 women students in 120 U.S. engineering undergraduate programs from 31 four-year institutions. Black women engineering students experienced and perceived more differential treatment because of their race/ethnicity but interacted more with faculty than White women students. This study provides critical implications for policy and practice regarding how administrators and faculty members can design engineering programs to create better climate and offer resources for women of color students.

On Measuring Engineering Risk Attitudes

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas Van Bossuyt ◽  
Lucila Carvalho ◽  
Andy Dong ◽  
Irem Y. Tumer
Keyword(s):  
Risk Aversion ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
The United States ◽  
Risk Identification ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Undergraduate Engineering ◽  
Risk Seeking ◽  
Risk Treatment ◽  
Identification Analysis

Theories of rational decision making hold that decision makers should select the best alternative from the available choices, but it is now well known that decision makers employ heuristics and are subject to a set of psychological biases. Risk aversion or risk seeking attitude has a framing effect and can bias the decision maker towards inaction or action. Understanding decision-makers’ attitudes to risk is thus integral to understanding how they make decisions and psychological biases that might be at play. This paper presents the Engineering-Domain-Specific Risk-Taking (E-DOSPERT) test to measure the risk aversion and risk seeking attitude that engineers have in four domains of engineering risk management: identification, analysis, evaluation and treatment. The creation of the instrument, an analysis of its reliability based on surveying undergraduate engineering students in Australia and the United States, and the validity of the four domains are discussed. The instrument is found to be statistically reliable to measure engineering risk aversion and risk seeking, and to measure engineering risk aversion and risk seeking to risk identification and risk treatment. However, factor analysis of the results suggest that four other domains may better describe the factors in engineers’ attitude to risk.

Empirical Support for Systemic and Dyadic Explanations of International Conflict

1988 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Bueno de Mesquita ◽  
David Lalman
Keyword(s):  
International Conflict ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Model Specification ◽  
Major Power ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Distribution Of Power ◽  
Systemic Constraints ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Impact

Systemic theorists emphasize the interplay of the distribution of power, the number of poles, and their tightness in predicting the occurrence of major-power war. The authors link individual-level incentives to these systemic constraints as factors that might affect the likelihood of war. They believe that their model specification is more comprehensive than any prior effort to evaluate the impact of structural attributes on the risk of major-power war. Empirical results from the individual-level prespective are encouraging when one examines European crises from 1816 to 1965, but there is no evidence that decision makers were significantly constrained by variations in the structural attributes. Neither the distribution of power nor the number or tightness of poles appears to influence the risk of war.

scholarly journals Member Perceptions as a Parsimonious Representation of Collaboration Viability

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Heslop ◽  
Kylie Bailey ◽  
Jonathan Paul ◽  
Liz Stojanovski
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Students ◽  
Assessment Tool ◽  
Peer Assessment ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Assessment Instrument ◽  
First Year ◽  
Rater Bias ◽  
Assessment Data ◽  
Student Responses ◽  
Systems Perspective

The PILAR model provides a dynamical systems perspective on collaboration. Two studies are performed using peer assessment data, both testing empirical support for the five Pillars (prospects, involved, liked, agency, respect) that constitute member’s perceptions of collaboration viability. The first study analyses peer-assessment data collected online from 458 first-year engineering students (404 males; 54 females). A nine-item instrument was inherited from past year’s usage in the course, expanded with four additional items to elaborate upon the agency and liked Pillars. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted on student responses to test whether they thematically aligned to constructs consistent with the five Pillars. As anticipated, twelve of the thirteen items grouped into five components, each aligned with a Pillar, providing empirical evidence that the five Pillars represent perceptions of collaboration. The second study replicated the first study using a retrospective analysis of 87 items included in the Comprehensive Assessment of Team Member Effectiveness (CATME) peer-assessment tool. The associated factor analyses resulted in five components and conceptual alignment of these components with Pillars was evident for three of five CATME components. We recommend a peer-assessment instrument based upon PILAR as potentially more parsimonious and reliable than an extensive list of behaviours, such as employed by CATME. We also recommend including items that target inter-rater bias, which is aligned with the liked Pillar, that instruments such as CATME exclude.

The Quest for Security: Alliances and Arms

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brett Ashley Leeds ◽  
T. Clifton Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Security Policy ◽  
Domestic Politics ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Security Issues ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
War Experiences ◽  
Empirical Tests ◽  
Composite Goods

Security issues have long been linked to the study of international relations. The crucial issue which scholars and decision makers have sought to understand is how states can avoid being victimized by war while also being prepared for any eventuality of war. Particular attention has been devoted to alliances and armaments as the policy instruments that should have the greatest effect on state war experiences. Scholars have attempted to use balance of power theories to explain the interrelationships between arms, alliances, and international conflict, but the overwhelming lack of empirical support for such theories led the field to look for alternatives. This gave rise to new theorizing that recognized variance in national goals and an enhanced role for domestic politics, which in turn encouraged empirical tests at the nation state or dyadic level of analysis. Drawing from existing theoretical perspectives, more specific formal models and empirical tests were invoked to tackle particular questions about alliances and arms acquisitions. Despite significant advances in individual “islands of theory,” however, integrated explanations of the pursuit and effects of security policies have remained elusive. An important consideration for the future is to develop of theories of security policy that take into account the substitutability and complementarity of varying components. There have been two promising attempts at such integrated theorizing: the first explains the steps to war and the second is based on the assumption that states pursue two composite goods through foreign policy.

Penalized for Personality: A Case Study of Asian-Origin Disadvantage at the Point of Hire

2020 ◽  
pp. 233264922092227
Author(s):  
Koji Chavez
Keyword(s):  
Laboratory Experiments ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Model Minority ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Hiring Decisions ◽  
Asian Origin ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Job Candidates

Do employers penalize Asian-origin workers for personality-related reasons during real hiring decisions? Current theoretical approaches—the Model Minority Myth perspective and the Heterogeneity approach—provide conflicting predictions as to the nature of an Asian-origin personality penalty, if one exists. Furthermore, evidence of an Asian-origin personality penalty is typically derived from laboratory experiments based on evaluation of fictitious material rather than from real hiring decisions based on face-to-face interviews and hiring deliberations. To fill the empirical gap and resolve theoretical tension, I provide evidence of an Asian-origin personality penalty from a case study of hiring at a Silicon Valley high-technology firm. Drawing from quantitative and qualitative data, I demonstrate how the firm’s decision makers penalize Asian-origin job candidates during hiring decisions for their judged personality traits in a way that does not fully coincide with either theoretical approach, and I propose a theoretical model to describe the personality “content” of the Asian-origin personality penalty as it occurs in real hiring decisions.

scholarly journals Entrepreneurial Intention of Engineering Students: The Role of Social Norms and Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (16) ◽  
pp. 4314 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grigorios Asimakopoulos ◽  
Virginia Hernández ◽  
Javier Peña Miguel
Keyword(s):  
Social Norms ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Entrepreneurial Intention ◽  
Entrepreneurial Activity ◽  
Entrepreneurial Education ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

This paper examines the impact of entrepreneurial education on intention to undertake entrepreneurial activity in the future. The study is based on a sample of 208 engineering students. Specifically, we explore the contingent effect of social norms on the relationship between entrepreneurial education and intention to undertake entrepreneurial activity, as well as the role of social norms on the association between entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention. We utilize a comprehensive questionnaire distributed among engineering students. Our findings indicate that entrepreneurial education is positively associated with the intention to undertake entrepreneurial activity, in addition to demonstrating a positive moderation effect role of social norms on the relationship between entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intention. The study provides empirical support to devise new educational initiatives that can further support students and young entrepreneurs in their current or future entrepreneurial projects

The Adoption of Open Source Desktop Software

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kris Ven ◽  
Geert Van Kerckhoven ◽  
Jan Verelst
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Business Case ◽  
Informed Decision ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Added Value ◽  
User Perceptions ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Insight Into

More organizations are currently migrating toward open source desktop software (OSDS). However, such migration is complex. More insight into the process will assist decision makers in making a well-informed decision on whether or not to migrate to OSDS and in building a strong business case to support this decision. In this paper, the authors present the results of a qualitative study in seven Belgian organizations and report on why these organizations have adopted OSDS and how the migration was undertaken. These cases represent challenging adoptions of OSDS. Results indicate that providing added value for users can positively influence user perceptions. In addition, the authors found strong empirical support for the guidelines with respect to the migration to OSDS that have been proposed in academic literature.

Analysis of Engineering Design Journal Sketches and Notations

2007 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashley L. Grenier ◽  
Linda C. Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
Cognitive Activity ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Design Tools ◽  
University Of Maryland ◽  
Time Commitment ◽  
Coding Schemes ◽  
Journal Entries

Identifying and transferring secrets of engineering design drive innovation within a successful company. In design courses, engineering students rarely use a lab book, a research notebook, or design journal to document anything! During the summer of 2006, a University of Maryland RISE undergraduate research team piloted a study of 12 students’ design journal entries during a Mechanical Engineering senior Capstone design course. Existing note coding schemes from the engineering education researchers were adapted and tested with the goal of inferring cognitive activity. Journal entries revealed individual characteristics about students as learners including: uneven time commitment to design stages, preference for sketching, documentation clarity and individual buy-in to design tools presented in class. Design journal research is a promising path to understanding how students are learning and practicing design.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document