Computer scientists should be more in touch with their feelings and emotions, according to a peer-reviewed study by a graduate student at Purdue University’s School of Engineering Education published last week.
The author, S. Zahra Atiq, spent five years conducting an autoethnographic investigation into how introductory computer programming courses should be taught. Autoethnography is a form of “scientific” research that explores the researcher’s personal experiences and feelings. Official academic definitions claim that the method “treats research as a political, socially-just and socially-conscious act.” The method of research is closely tied to feminist thought and “queer-theory.”
The study’s abstract claims “autoethnographic method provides a new, credible way for educators to reflect and inform their practices.” Autoethnographery has been heavily criticized in by others in academia for being more concerned with social justice than with research accuracy.
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Atiq’s previous research examined how engineering students decided what they want to study. Her academic profile at Purdue does not list any other research.
Out-of-state graduate students at Purdue, a public university, pay an estimated cost of $41,404 annually according to the a cost calculator provided by the school’s financial aid department. Purdue’s endowment was estimated at $2.398 billion in 2015.
This report, by Andrew Follett, was cross-posted by arrangement with the Daily Caller News Foundation.
