Using grounded theory methodology to discover undergraduates' preconceptions of software engineering

摘要

As software becomes more and more important in our everyday life, young people have to get the right qualifications for jobs such as programmers, software architects, and software engineers. Since Software Engineering is a relatively new discipline, its didactical foundation is still in its infancy, which contrasts the growing importance and our rising dependence on technology. As a consequence, the goal is to improve learning by using "positive" conceptions of students as "points of departure" and reduce learning obstacles by facing misconceptions. As a first step in this process, (pre-)conceptions have to be identified. Therefore, the paper covers a specification of Grounded Theory, the way it was created and developed further, a presentation of three variants and relevant points of similarity and difference. Furthermore, the research topic of the upcoming study and reasons why GT seems to be a promising research approach regarding the research goal as well as its operationalisation according to this research topic will be displayed.