PREPARED BY: COTILDA MUSSA

SUPERVISOR: Mrs KAMBALE

 Introduction
Problem statement
Research objectives
Research questions and justification of the
study
Research design and methodology
Population and sample
Data collection methods
Data analysis
Validity and reliability
Research ethics
Limitations
 The 21st century is witnessing the ever-increasing role of
science and technology in all aspects of life as a result many
countries introduced computer studies in there schools to make
their future citizens computer literate. The Government of
Malawi through the ministry of education in partnership with
British council, SchoolNet Malawi and other stakeholders
introduced Computer studies as an optional subject at senior
secondary level that is form three and four in 2001 but it was
not an examinable subject. However in 2007 the government
decided to make the subject examinable.

Computer education or studies is the ability to make the

generality of the people computer literate which means ability
to understand and operate computers(Bada et al., 2009) in
(Chikumba, 2011). .
 Since the introduction of Computer studies at secondary school
here in Malawi. Chikumba(2011) observed that from 2007 to 2009
girls participation was dominated by boys in this subject.

Also most studies find that boys report higher levels of confidence
and greater interest in most computing fields than girls (Bleeker,
2006). Research further shows that although teenage girls are now
using computers and the Internet at rates similar to their male
peers, they are five times less likely to consider a technology-
related career or plan on taking post-secondary technology classes
( computing#cite_note-2).

Therefore this study seeks to investigate the factors that cause girls
to be underrepresented in computer studies in secondary schools
where computer studies are provided.
 Main Objective
The main objective of this study is to investigate the factors
that might cause girls to be underrepresented in computer
studies.

1.2.2 Specific objectives

Investigate the factors that cause girls to be underrepresented

in computer studies as perceived by teachers.
Investigate the factors that cause girls to be underrepresented
in computer studies as perceived by students.
Research questions
What are the factors that cause girls to be underrepresented in
computer studies as perceived by teachers?
What are the factors that cause girls to be underrepresented in
computer studies as perceived by students?

Justification of the study

Education is a key to national development and it is believed
that if you educate a girl child then you educate the whole
nation. Therefore this study will be an eye opener for parents,
teachers, government and non governmental organizations on
the factors that cause girls to be underrepresented in computer
studies and find ways of eliminating them and at the same
time reduce the gap that is there between females and males
in this field.
 The research design will be as follows:

The research will follow Phenomenology

philosophy.

The research will use Qualitative approach.

The strategy that will be used in this research is Case

study.
 Population
Student and Computer teachers at Our Lady of
wisdom and Chichiri Intergrated.
Sampling technique:
- Convenience sampling was used to select a
place of study
- Purposive sampling was used to select
schools were research will be conducted.
- Random sampling will be used to select
computer teachers and students in the two
schools.
Sample size:
- 2 computer teachers from each school
- 8 girls from each school and 4 male students
 Document analysis
Interviews
- Semi-structured interviews for teachers
will be conducted
- data will be captured through note taking
Questionnaires
- Will be distributed to 8 girls from each
school and 4 boys that were randomly
selected from the co-education school
- thematic analysis will be used to analyze
data
 Document analysis, semi-structured
interviews and questionnaires will be used as
data collection methods to achieve validity.
A pre-test on the questionnaires will be
conducted also to ensure validity and
reliability
 participation of the respondents in the
research is at their own free will.
Also every respondents name will be
protected by not disclosing it for safety
reasons.
Participants will also be made ware of the fact
that the data collected will be used for the
intended purpose of the research only and
that the data will be viewed by the researcher
and her supervisor.
 Generalisation:
- Since the study will not be done in all
secondary schools in Malawi it will make the
sample size small hence the findings can not
generalized.

Other limitations will be time factor and

financial constraints as the researcher will be
working from her personal budget.
END OF PRESENTATION