Context

The recent spike in the growth of online communities is a testament to the technological advancements of the 21st century. People with shared interests, problems, and solutions can now engage via online groups, including the software engineering community. There is evidence, however, to suggest females are often underrepresented in such online communities, and especially those that are technology related. This comes at a great loss to these communities, and for software engineering in particular. Females, like males, add much value to the field of software engineering.

Objective

Limited evidence exists to quantify the value of males and females in the software engineering process or relevant communities. This insight could inform evidence-driven inclusiveness strategies. Accordingly, we sought to better understand gender differences in the Stack Overflow community in order to delineate the value of gender diversity in the field of software engineering.

Method

This study used archival data from Stack Overflow over an 11-year period, comprising records from 9.5 million contributors. We employed quantitative and qualitative approaches to examine the role of gender in terms of contributors’ orientation, attitudes, and knowledge sharing patterns.

Results

The results indicate female contributors on Stack Overflow differed significantly from males in relation to their orientation, attitudes, and knowledge sharing patterns. We observe that female contributors tend to have a more cooperative orientation. Additionally, females expressed a more supportive and collective outlook and were more willing to share knowledge than their male counterparts.

Conclusion

The software engineering community would benefit from gender tolerance and inclusiveness to promote a knowledge sharing culture. In this regard, gender diversity should be encouraged for the value it brings to Stack Overflow and the field of software engineering.

中文翻译：

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在软件工程社区中鼓励性别容忍和包容的价值

语境

最近在线社区增长的激增证明了 21 世纪的技术进步。拥有共同兴趣、问题和解决方案的人们现在可以通过在线群组（​​包括软件工程社区）进行互动。然而，有证据表明，女性在此类在线社区中的代表性往往不足，尤其是与技术相关的社区。这给这些社区，尤其是软件工程带来了巨大损失。女性和男性一样，为软件工程领域增加了很多价值。

客观的

有限的证据可以量化软件工程过程或相关社区中男性和女性的价值。这种洞察力可以为循证驱动的包容性战略提供信息。因此，我们试图更好地了解 Stack Overflow 社区中的性别差异，以描绘软件工程领域性别多样性的价值。

方法

这项研究使用了 Stack Overflow 超过 11 年的档案数据，包括来自 950 万贡献者的记录。我们采用定量和定性方法来检查性别在贡献者的取向、态度和知识共享模式方面的作用。

结果

结果表明，Stack Overflow 上的女性贡献者在取向、态度和知识共享模式方面与男性存在显着差异。我们观察到女性贡献者往往更倾向于合作。此外，女性表达了更支持和集体的观点，并且比男性更愿意分享知识。

结论

软件工程社区将从性别容忍和包容中受益，以促进知识共享文化。在这方面，应该鼓励性别多样性为 Stack Overflow 和软件工程领域带来的价值。