JOURNAL OF RESEARCH IN SCIENCE TEACHING VOL. 32, NO. 4, PP. 387-398 (1995)
Gender Differences in Student Attitudes toward Science: A Meta- Analysis
of
the Literaturefkom
1970 to 1991Molly Weinburgh
Georgia State VniversiQ, College of Education, MSIT, Atlanta, Georgia 30303
Abstract
A meta-analysis covering the literature between 1970 and 1991 was conducted using an approach similar to that suggested by Glass, McGaw, and Smith (1981) and Hedges, Shymansky, and Woodworth (1 989). This analysis examined gender differences in student attitudes toward science, and correlations between attitudes toward science and achievement in science. Thirty-one effect sizes and seven correla- tions representing the testing of 6,753 subjects were found in 18 studies. The mean of the unweighted effect sizes was .20 (SD = S O ) and the mean of the weighted effect size was .16 (SD = .50), indicating that boys have more positive attitudes toward science than girls. The mean correlation between attitude and achievement was .50 for boys and 5 5 for girls, suggesting that the correlations are comparable. Results of the analysis of gender differences in attitude as a function of science type indicate that boys show a more positive attitude toward science than girIs in all types of science. The correlation between attitude and achievement for boys and girls as a function of science type indicates that for biology and physics the correlation is positive for both, but stronger for girls than for boys. Gender differences and correlations between attitude and achievement by gender as a function of publication date show no pattern. The results for the analysis of gender differences as a function of the selectivity of the sample indicate that general level students reflect a greater positive attitude for boys, whereas the high-performance students indicate a greater positive attitude for girls. The correlation between attitude and achievement as a function of selectivity indicates that in all cases a positive attitude results in higher achievement. This is particularly true for low-performance girls. The implications of these finding are discussed and further research suggested.
Historically, research on science education has focused on specific educational outcomes.
Until about 20 years ago, the major focus of this research was on educational objectives in the cognitive domain. Recently, the affective domain, as defined by Krathwohl, Bloom, and Masia (1964), has not only been accepted as a relevant part of education, but has also become the focus of considerable research. One of the key variables within the affective domain that has drawn attention is attitudes.
Of early interest was the relationship of attitudes to behavior. Fishbein and Ajzen (1975) proposed a theory of reasoned action that describes the relationship of attitude to behavior. They suggested that a person’s attitude toward any object is a function of his or her beliefs about the object and the implicit evaluative responses associated with those beliefs. Ajzen (1989) ex-
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Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. CCC 0022-4308/95/040387- 12
tended the theory of reasoned action to the prediction of behavioral goals in his theory of planned behavior. Based on this model, many researchers have examined attitudes by studying the variables that influence it or by examining its relationship to a specific behavioral goal such as achievement (Albert, Aschenbrenner, & Schmalhofer, 1989).
In addition to the growing interest in student attitudes and their relationship to student behavior, there has developed a real concern about gender differences as expressed in the academic area. Since Sells (1973) reported that mathematics acts as the “critical filter” for many women, there has been an increased focus on gender differences in mathematics and science.
Eccles ( 1987) reported that gender roles are related to women’s achievement-related decisions.
Stage, Freinberg, Eccles, and Becker (1985) examined the importance of increasing the partici- pation and achievement in mathematics, science, and engineering for women. The American Association of University Women (AAUW, 1991) reported that as girls grow up they loose confidence in their academic abilities and lower their career aspirations.
Research in science education indicates that gender may also influence attitudes toward science. Schibeci (1984) reported in a review of the literature that of all the variables that may influence attitudes toward science, gender has generally been shown to have a consistent influence. If individual studies are examined, a range of conflicting conclusions are reported.
Studies that examine science in general, rather than a specific discipline, suggest that boys have more positive attitudes than girls. Simpson and Oliver (1989, in an ongoing multidimensional study among approximately 4,000 students in Grades 6 through 10, found that boys exhibited significantly more positive attitudes towards science than girls. This was true within each grade level. Baker (1983) found girls to have more negative attitudes toward science than boys, but still to have higher science grades. Handley and Morse (1984) reported that both attitudes and achievements in science are related to the variables of self-concept and gender role perceptions.
These relationships are more evident in association with attitudes than achievement. They reported that, over time, the female attitude toward science became more related to their concept of male dominance in science. Pogge (1986) found, in a study of 1,200 students enrolled in Grades 4, 5, and 6, that a majority of the students have a positive attitude toward science. This was true for all grade levels. Okebukola (1986) explored the effects of cooperative learning on the attitude of students toward laboratory work and found a significant difference in gender for both the cooperative and noncooperative group with boys having more positive attitudes than girls. Lowery, Bowyer, and Padillia (1980), although suggesting that a curriculum can have a measurable effect on students’ attitudes, did report the maintenance of attitudinal differences between the sexes within both the control and the experimental groups. In both groups, the boys showed more positive attitudes toward science than the girls.
It appears that, in general, boys have a more positive attitude toward science than girls.
However, if specific disciplines of science are studied, this is not always the case. Schibeci (1984) reported that girls show a more positive attitude toward biology and boys toward physics and chemistry. Weinburgh and Engelhard ( 199 1) examined biology laboratory experiences in high school students and reported a small, negative relationship between attitude toward biology laboratory experiences and gender, indicating that girls have a more positive attitude than boys.
In a similar study, Al-Hajji (1983) examined the attitudes of middle school students in Kuwait to science laboratory work. He found that girls have more positive attitudes toward science laboratory work than boys. In contrast to what has been previously reported, Barrington and Hendricks (1988) found no gender differences with respect to attitudes toward science with gifted and average students.
Few studies were found that examined the correlation between attitude toward science and achievement in science by gender. Cannon (1983) examined seventh-grade students in basic,
GENDER DIFFERENCES IN STUDENT A'ITITUDES 389
general, and advanced life science classes, Using a criterion-referenced life science achieve- ment test to obtain achievement scores, he reported a higher correlation between positive attitudes in science and higher achievement scores for basic and advanced-performance girls and general performance boys. Stoner (198 1) examined the relationship of psychological and skill factors to science attitude and achievement in 5th- and 10th-grade students using teacher-given grades for achievement. She found the correlation between attitude toward science and achieve- ment in 10th-grade students to be stronger for girls than boys. Schibeci and Riley (1986), using a National Assessment of Educational Performance (NAEP) data set, investigated the influence of student background and perceptions on science attitude and achievement. They found that gender had an influence on attitudes and achievement, with girls having less positive attitudes than boys, as well as having lower scores in achievement. Cannon and Simpson (1983), using a teacher-made test for achievement, reported that general ability boys show a slightly higher correlation between attitude toward science and achievement in science than girls. They also reported that the correlation appears to become stronger for boys from basic ability to general ability to advanced ability. For girls, the strongest correlation is for the low ability followed by advanced ability and then general ability.
The conflicting results from different studies make it difficult to determine whether, in general, there are gender differences in student attitudes toward science, or whether there are gender differences in correlations between attitude toward science and achievement in science.
This is particularly true because attitude and achievement are not measured using the same instrument for all studies. Diamond and Tittle (1985) offered a word of caution when examining studies of sex differences in test performances. They attributed many of the differences between men and women in test performance to the socialization process. A recent AAUW report (1992) pointed out that there appears to be a difference in performance levels of boys and girls depending on whether an instrument used to measure achievement is teacher-made or stan- dardized.
Although the narrative reviews of the literature, such as Schibeci (1984) and Gallager (1987) are useful, meta-analytic techniques offer the potential for rigorous and parsimonious summaries of evidence from many studies. Applied to the topic of gender differences in attitudes toward science, meta-analysis may lead to a clearer view of the magnitude of observed gender differences, and may also be a useful way to examine whether or not the gender differences generalize across subject area, publication date, and selectivity of the sample.
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to examine gender differences in student attitudes toward science. The meta-analysis focused on gender differences in attitudes, and on gender differences in the relationship between attitude toward science and achievement in science. The goal was to answer the following questions:
1. Are there gender differences in student attitudes toward science?
2. Do gender differences vary as a function of subject area, publication date, and selec- tivity of the sample?
3. Are the correlations between attitudes toward science and achievement in science comparable for boys and girls?
4. Do the correlations between attitudes toward science and achievement in science for boys and girls vary as a function of subject area, publication date, and selectivity of the sample?
Method Data Sources
The following sources were used to get the saniple of studies: (a) a computerized database search of ERIC, PsychLit, and Comprehensive Dissertation Abstracts; (b) manual search of Science Education, School Science and Mathematics, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, and School Science Review; ahd (c) examination of bibliographies in the review articles re- trieved by the computer and matlual searches. By inspecting the abstracts, citations that did not promise to yield data necessary to compute effect sizes or the Pearson correlation coefficients between attitude toward science and achievement in science were eliminated.
If it was possible to obtain several independent effect sizes or correlations from a single article, for example, data from several age groups or disciplines, these were reported as separate samples (Hyde, Fennema, & Lamon, 1990). This happened in 10 of the 18 cases for effect size and 2 of the 3 cases for correlations.
The result was 18 usable sources, yielding 31 independent effect sizes. This represents the testing of 6,753 students (3,337 boys and 3,4 I6 girls). Seven attitude-achievement correlations were reported separately by gender. Each of these seven correlations used a teacher-made test for the achievement score, allowing comparison between studies to be made with more confi- dence. This represents the testing of 561 boys and 623 girls.
Coding
Each study was coded using five categories, as suggested by Glass, McGaw, and Smith (1981). These are (a) identification items, (b) study demographics, (c) study conditions, (d) outcome variables and (e) other comments. A chart was developed to record the necessary information.
Outcome Measures
The outcomes measured were student attitude toward science and the correlation between attitudes and achievement. As recommended by Glass et al. (1981) and Hedges, Shymansky, and Woodworth (1989), each attitude outcome was coded as an effect size (d), defined as the mean of the boys minus the mean of the girls divided by the standard deviation of the girls.
Thus, a positive value represented more positive attitudes for boys and a negative value repre- sented more positive attitudes for girls. The values of d were then corrected for bias in estima- tion of the population effect size, using the formula provided by Hedges et al. The outcome measure for the relationship between student attitudes toward science and achievement in science was the Pearson product moment correlation coefficient. Table 1 gives a complete listing of the unbiased effect sizes of all studies in this meta-analysis.
Because there is the possibility of variation in excess of sampling fluctuation among studies, a test for heterogeneity was performed. This was done by comparing Q , a measure of heterogeneity, to the percentile of the chi-squared distribution with k - 1 degrees of freedom (Hedges et al., 1989). The determination of heterogeneity meant that the effect sizes could be divided into subgroups for further examination.
GENDER DIFFERENCES IN STUDENT ATTITUDES 39 1 Table 1
Study of Gender Diflerences in Science Attitude and Achievement
Boys Girls Male Female
Study Date n n D r r Sciencea Selectivityb
Burke Burke Burke Cannon Cannon Cannon
Cannon & Simpson Cannon & Simpson Cannon & Simpson Cornett
Daume Daume Hamilton Harty & Beall Harty & Beall
Harty, Samuel, & Beall Hasan
Hofman Hofman
Lowery, Bowyer, &
Padillia Lowery, et al.
Novak Okebbkola Okebukola Scott Shrigley Squiers Squiers Stoner Stoner
Weinburgh & Engelhard 1983 1983 1983 1983 1983 1983 1983 1983 1983 1981 1981 1981 1982 1984 1984 1986 1985 1977 1977 1980 1980 1980 1986 1986 1982 1972 1983 1983 1981 1981 1991
87 120 125 87 91 35 87 91 35 95 1 26 24 248 13 13 110 I53 21 19 27 27 147 58 52 77 62 59 60 135 139 158
77 0.00 NA
102 0.03 NA
91 0.03 NA 78 0.11 .48 95 0.13 S O SO 0.48 .61 78 0.11 .48 95 0.13 S O SO 0.47 .61 950 0.48 NA 24 0.12 NA 26 0.66 NA 328 0.11 NA 12 0.48 NA 12 0.11 NA 118 0.19 NA 160 -0.35 NA 17 -0.46 NA 22 -0.09 NA 28 1.39 NA 28 0.61 NA 129 0.07 NA 55 1.59 NA
56 0.93 NA
77 0.29 NA 53 0.84 NA 68 0.26 NA 69 -0.61 NA 177 0.04 .34 155 0.07 NA 136 -0.30 NA
NA 7 2
NA NA .65 .46 .64 .65 .46 .65 NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA .37 NA NA
7 7 2 2 2 2 2 2 7 7 7 7 6 6 6 6 1 1 7 7 7 2 2 4 1 5 5 4 7 2
2 2 1 2 3 1 2 3 2 2 2 2 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 Nore. D = unbiased effect size with positive numbers indicating that boys are more positive than girls and negative numbers indicating that girls are more positive than boys.
a 1 = earth science; 2 = biology; 3 = chemistry; 4 = physical science; 5 = not currently enrolled; 6 = not reported; 7 = general science.
1 = low performance; 2 = general performance; 3 = high performance.
Interrater Reliability
Interrater reliability was determined by selecting two samples that were coded indepen- dently by two graduate students. Each of the new codings was compared to the original in order to see if the coding matched. Agreement rates of 97% and 98% were found, indicating that the coding was highly reliable.
Results Gender DiTerences in Attitude Toward Science
Thirty-one independent effect sizes and seven achievement-attitude correlations for each gender were found between 1970 and 1991. The mean of the unweighted effect sizes was .20 (SD = .50) based on 6,753 students. This indicates that boys have a more positive attitude toward science than girls. Of the 31 effect sizes, 25 (81%) were positive, reflecting more positive attitudes by boys and 8 (19%) were negative, reflecting more positive attitudes by girls.
When the weighted mean effect size was computed with weights proportional to the number of subjects in each study (Hedges et al., 1989), the mean was .16 (SD = .50). In both cases, this small positive value indicates that boys have a more positive attitude toward science than girls.
Although the magnitude of effect is small, Linn and Petersen (1985) pointed out that small differences may be of “interest at the extremes of score distribution and may interact with other factors to have greater impact” (p. 55).
Homogeneity analyses using procedures described by Hedges et al. (1989) indicated that the set of 31 effect sizes was significantly nonhomogeneous (H = 284.0), compared with a critical value of
x*
(30, N = 6753) = 59.7, p<
.001. Therefore, it can be concluded that the set of effect sizes is heterogeneous and can be partitioned into more homogeneous subgroups.Because two or more populations are reasonable, a search using the variables of the studies that have been hypothesized to predict effect size is reasonable. The variables examined in the study are subject area, date of publication, and selectivity of the sample.
The mean correlation was .50 for boys ( n = 561) and .55 for girls ( n = 623). This indicates that for both boys and girls there is a strong, positive relationship between attitude toward science and achievement in science. The relationship is stronger for girls than for boys.
Science Type
The results for the analysis of gender differences in attitude as a function of science type reported are shown in Table 2. No studies were found in the field of chemistry. For all types of science with the exception of the two cases in which the students were not currently enrolled in a science, boys showed a more positive attitude toward science than girls. The order from smallest effect sizes to largest is (a) not currently enrolled, (b) biology, (c) physics, (d) not now
Table 2
Magnitude of the Gender Differences as a Function of Science Type
Science type k d SEM
~ ~ ~
Biology 9 .03 .05
Physics 2 . I 2 .09
Earth science 3 .34 .I5
General science 10 .34 .04
Not now enrolled 2 .22 . I 2
Not reported 5
.
00 .06Note. k = number of effect sizes; d = weighted mean effect sizes; SE, = standard error of weighted mean.
GENDER DIFFERENCES IN STUDENT ATTITUDES 393
enrolled, (e) general science, and (f) earth science. This indicates that there is a wider gap between male and female attitudes in general science and earth science.
The results of the analysis of the correlation between attitude and achievement for boys and girls as a function of science type are shown in Table 3. Correlations were only reported in studies examining students in biology and physics. For each of these disciplines, the correlation is positive and slightly stronger for girls than for boys. As pointed out earlier, the relationship between attitudes and achievement in biology is higher than in physics. However, in each case, those students with a more positive attitude toward the science type investigated showed greater achievement.
Date of Publication
The analysis for the magnitude of gender differences as a function of date of publication is shown in Table 4. Only 10 of the 21 years designated for this study produced research that could be included. The largest number of studies were reported in 1981 and 1983. Seven of the 10 dates reported a positive effect size, reflecting a more positive attitude by boys. In looking at the variation in scores, no pattern of change can be seen across the 21 years.
Table 3 shows the correlation between attitude and achievement by gender as a function of the date of publication. Studies in 1981 and 1983 reported the correlation between attitude and achievement by gender. For both years, the correlation was positive with a stronger correlation being seen for the girls.
Sample Selectivity
The results for the analysis of gender differences as a function of the selectivity of the sample are shown in Table 5. The high-performance students reported a small, negative effect size (- .02), indicating that girls have a slightly more positive attitude toward science than boys.
For the low-performance and general performance students, boys showed more positive atti- tudes than girls. The difference between the two effect sizes is small, but general performance students do reflect a greater positive attitude by the boys.
Table 3
Correlation between Attitude and Achievement as a Function of Science Type, Date of Publication, and Selectivity of Sample
Function k Male Female
5 P e .59
Biology 6 .53
Physics 1 .34 .37
Date
1981 1 .34 .37
1983 6 .53 .59
Low performance 2 .48 .65
General 3 .45 .43
High performance 2 .61 .65
Selectivity
Nore. k = number of effect sizes.
Table 4
Magnitude of the Gender Differences as a Function of Date
Sample k d SEM
1972 1977 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1991
1 2 3 5 2 11 2 1 3 1
.84 -.26
.28 .38 .I5 .07 .29 - .35 .06 -.30
.20 .22 . I 1 .04
.
01 .05 .29 .11 .I0 . I 2 Note. k = number of effect sizes; d = weighted mean effect size; SE, = standard error of weighted means.The correlation between attitude and achievement as a function of the selectivity of the sample is shown in Table 3. The correlation in all cases is positive, indicating that as attitude become more positive, achievement tended to increase. It was lowest for both boys and girls in the general performance group. Of interest is the fact that this is the only group where the correlation between attitude and achievement is lower for the girls than the boys. The correla- tion is strongest among the high-performance and low-performance girls. Also interesting is the span between low-performing boys and girls.
Discussion
It appears that, in general, boys do have a more positive attitude toward science than girls, as has been suggested by narrative reviews of the literature (Gallager, 1987; Schibeci, 1984). However, if specific disciplines are examined, the magnitude of the effect varies.
The small positive effect size (.03) for biology was expected. Schibeci reported that girls may have a more positive attitude toward biology, whereas boys may have a more posi- tive attitude toward physics and chemistry. Johnson ( 1 987) supported this in her study of gen- der differences in 1 I-, 13-, and 15-year-olds. Increasingly, she noted that girls have a greater
Table 5
Magnitude of the Gender Differences as a Function of Selectivity
Sample k d SEM
Low performance 2 . 1 1 . I 1 High performance 4 - .02 .10
General 25 .21 .03
Note. k = number of effect sizes; d = weighted mean effect size; SE, = standard error of the weighted means.
GENDER DIFFERENCES IN STUDENT ATTITUDES 395 interest in parts of plants, growing seeds, how animals have young, and medical applications of knowledge, whereas boys have a greater interest in speed, electric circuits, floating and sinking, and technological application in the physical sciences. It was somewhat surprising to find a small effect size (. 12) for physics. Physics has earned the reputation of requiring a high level of mathematical skill and of being a “hard” science. From prior studies (Schibeci, 1984), it would have been hypothesized that the effect size would be much larger. Johnson’s study, which reported that girls show less interest in physical science concepts, did not examine students beyond the 10th grade, at which time girls selectively decide to continue with science electives, one of which is physics. This may help explain the small effect size found in this study. General science (d = .34) and earth science (d = .34) appear to be viewed much more positively by boys than girls. It has been suggested by Johnson (1987) and Kahle and Lakes (1983) that from an early age, girls, in general, read fewer books about science and technology than do boys, and that boys in greater numbers claim to engage in “tinkering” activities outside school. The topics covered in general science, earth science, and physical science may be perceived to be “male”
topics.
No pattern was suggested by the effect sizes as a function of date of publication of the study.
This may suggest that although gender differences in attitudes have been recognized, nothing substantial has been done in 21 years to change attitudes in students, especially for girls. The one area where girls showed more positive attitudes toward science than boys was in studies selected for gifted or high-performance students. This may be explained by the fact that gifted students for the past decade have been removed from the regular class and given special instruction. The smaller effect seen for low-performance students over general performance students may be explained in somewhat the same manner, because students designated as low- performance are often removed from the regular class and given additional instruction.
The data suggest that, in general, the correlation between attitude toward science and achievement in science is moderate. This would be expected from the theory of planned behavior (Ajzen, 1989), which suggests a link between attitude and behavior. The correlation is somewhat stronger for girls than for boys, indicating that a positive attitude is more necessary for girls in achieving high scores. In looking at the type of science, only two disciplines were found that reported correlations, biology and physics. In both cases, the correlation for the girls was higher than for boys, with the correlation being stronger in biology than in physics. The correlation of attitudes toward science and achievement in science as a function of date of publication of the study reveals the same trend as noted previously. Girls again exhibit a stronger correlation than boys. However, it must be remembered that only two dates were reported.
The only exception to girls having a stronger correlation than boys was seen when the correlation was viewed as a function of selectivity. General level students reported a higher correlation for boys than for girls. For high- and low-performance students, girls reported a higher correlation. This suggests that for girls in these two groups, doing well or “achieving” in science is closely linked with “liking” science.
Limitations
There are several limitations in this study. The major limitation is the small number of studies that reported the correlation between attitude toward science and achievement in science by gender (only seven cases). A second limitation is the lack of information reported on how achievement measures were determined. A third is the relatively small number of total cases (n
= 31) reported in this study for gender differences.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the findings from this study suggest that over the last 21 years, boys have consistently shown a more positive attitude toward science than girls. This has not appeared to change over time if the date of publication of the studies is used as an indictor. The selectivity of the sample does affect the results, with high selectivity reporting more positive attitudes for girls than for boys. However, more research is need in the field of attitudes toward science, partic- ularly in reference to gender differences. Also, more research is needed to determine why different types of science produce less positive attitudes in students.
The correlation between attitudes toward science and achievement in science are compara- ble for boys and girls. The correlation is somewhat stronger for girls than for boys, indicating that a positive attitude is more necessary for girls in achieving high scores. The correlations did vary as a function of selectivity and type, but not date of publication.
Three implications for further research are noted. The first is the practical need to continue research that examines strategies in the classroom for improving all students’ attitudes toward science, especially those of female students. The second is the need to continue research that examines attitudes, gender, and grade level. Research needs to address the question of when attitudes begin to decline and then try to determine why. The third, gender differences, needs to be examined by race in order to determine differences in girls of different ethnic backgrounds.
Earlier versions of this article were presented at the annual meeting of the Georgia Educational Research Association and the American Educational Research Association. This article received the Distinguished Paper Award from the Georgia Educational Research Association (Fall 1992). I acknowledge the helpful comments of George Engelhard, Robert Jensen, and Donald Reichard.
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Manuscript accepted June 18, 1993.
