{"title":"芬兰IT专业人员工作中的性别认知偏见与设计思维","authors":"Aila Kronqvist , Rebekah Rousi","doi":"10.1016/j.infsof.2025.107910","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Context</h3><div>Cognitive bias is a concern in artificial intelligence (AI) development. Research shows the prominence of cognitive bias within algorithms. We argue that cognitive bias is more than training data, but rather development team composition. Design Thinking (DT) is an approach used to reduce bias via multidisciplinary expertise. The article presents a study examining DT in addressing gender-based cognitive bias in the Finnish information technology industry.</div></div><div><h3>Objective</h3><div>The aim was to examine how the gender of IT professionals influences familiarity with and use of DT, coupled with awareness and addressing of cognitive bias in IT development processes.</div></div><div><h3>Method</h3><div>A mixed method questionnaire was used to collect data from <em>N</em> = 93 participants. Questions probed familiarity with DT, use of DT, and cognitive bias handling in participants’ organizations. Non-parametric tests were used to analyze quantitative data, due to abnormal distributions. Atlas.ti was used to code and analyze the qualitative data. Categorization determined whether participants recognized bias in their work, and the importance they attributed towards dealing with gender-based bias in IT.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Women were more likely to view gender-based cognitive bias as relevant. Women were significantly more familiar with DT as a methodology (<em>p</em> = 0.028), men were significantly more likely to engage in user studies (<em>p</em> = 0.018). Older participants showed a tendency to emphasize the importance of open discussion more than other participant groups, with some analyses indicating a trend-level difference (<em>p</em> = 0.085). Qualitative responses indicated the importance of discussion in development teams to avoid or mitigate bias, suggesting the need for organizational psychological safety.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>The paper provides novel contributions to the human dimension of bias in AI and IT in general. Results show that men and women IT professionals were aware of DT, yet men professionals were more likely to mitigate bias through collecting insight from end-users.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":54983,"journal":{"name":"Information and Software Technology","volume":"189 ","pages":"Article 107910"},"PeriodicalIF":4.3000,"publicationDate":"2025-10-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":"{\"title\":\"Gender-based cognitive bias and design thinking in the work of Finnish IT professionals\",\"authors\":\"Aila Kronqvist , Rebekah Rousi\",\"doi\":\"10.1016/j.infsof.2025.107910\",\"DOIUrl\":null,\"url\":null,\"abstract\":\"<div><h3>Context</h3><div>Cognitive bias is a concern in artificial intelligence (AI) development. Research shows the prominence of cognitive bias within algorithms. We argue that cognitive bias is more than training data, but rather development team composition. Design Thinking (DT) is an approach used to reduce bias via multidisciplinary expertise. The article presents a study examining DT in addressing gender-based cognitive bias in the Finnish information technology industry.</div></div><div><h3>Objective</h3><div>The aim was to examine how the gender of IT professionals influences familiarity with and use of DT, coupled with awareness and addressing of cognitive bias in IT development processes.</div></div><div><h3>Method</h3><div>A mixed method questionnaire was used to collect data from <em>N</em> = 93 participants. Questions probed familiarity with DT, use of DT, and cognitive bias handling in participants’ organizations. Non-parametric tests were used to analyze quantitative data, due to abnormal distributions. Atlas.ti was used to code and analyze the qualitative data. Categorization determined whether participants recognized bias in their work, and the importance they attributed towards dealing with gender-based bias in IT.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Women were more likely to view gender-based cognitive bias as relevant. Women were significantly more familiar with DT as a methodology (<em>p</em> = 0.028), men were significantly more likely to engage in user studies (<em>p</em> = 0.018). Older participants showed a tendency to emphasize the importance of open discussion more than other participant groups, with some analyses indicating a trend-level difference (<em>p</em> = 0.085). Qualitative responses indicated the importance of discussion in development teams to avoid or mitigate bias, suggesting the need for organizational psychological safety.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>The paper provides novel contributions to the human dimension of bias in AI and IT in general. Results show that men and women IT professionals were aware of DT, yet men professionals were more likely to mitigate bias through collecting insight from end-users.</div></div>\",\"PeriodicalId\":54983,\"journal\":{\"name\":\"Information and Software Technology\",\"volume\":\"189 \",\"pages\":\"Article 107910\"},\"PeriodicalIF\":4.3000,\"publicationDate\":\"2025-10-03\",\"publicationTypes\":\"Journal Article\",\"fieldsOfStudy\":null,\"isOpenAccess\":false,\"openAccessPdf\":\"\",\"citationCount\":\"0\",\"resultStr\":null,\"platform\":\"Semanticscholar\",\"paperid\":null,\"PeriodicalName\":\"Information and Software Technology\",\"FirstCategoryId\":\"94\",\"ListUrlMain\":\"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0950584925002496\",\"RegionNum\":2,\"RegionCategory\":\"计算机科学\",\"ArticlePicture\":[],\"TitleCN\":null,\"AbstractTextCN\":null,\"PMCID\":null,\"EPubDate\":\"\",\"PubModel\":\"\",\"JCR\":\"Q2\",\"JCRName\":\"COMPUTER SCIENCE, INFORMATION SYSTEMS\",\"Score\":null,\"Total\":0}","platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Information and Software Technology","FirstCategoryId":"94","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0950584925002496","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"计算机科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"COMPUTER SCIENCE, INFORMATION SYSTEMS","Score":null,"Total":0}
Gender-based cognitive bias and design thinking in the work of Finnish IT professionals
Context
Cognitive bias is a concern in artificial intelligence (AI) development. Research shows the prominence of cognitive bias within algorithms. We argue that cognitive bias is more than training data, but rather development team composition. Design Thinking (DT) is an approach used to reduce bias via multidisciplinary expertise. The article presents a study examining DT in addressing gender-based cognitive bias in the Finnish information technology industry.
Objective
The aim was to examine how the gender of IT professionals influences familiarity with and use of DT, coupled with awareness and addressing of cognitive bias in IT development processes.
Method
A mixed method questionnaire was used to collect data from N = 93 participants. Questions probed familiarity with DT, use of DT, and cognitive bias handling in participants’ organizations. Non-parametric tests were used to analyze quantitative data, due to abnormal distributions. Atlas.ti was used to code and analyze the qualitative data. Categorization determined whether participants recognized bias in their work, and the importance they attributed towards dealing with gender-based bias in IT.
Results
Women were more likely to view gender-based cognitive bias as relevant. Women were significantly more familiar with DT as a methodology (p = 0.028), men were significantly more likely to engage in user studies (p = 0.018). Older participants showed a tendency to emphasize the importance of open discussion more than other participant groups, with some analyses indicating a trend-level difference (p = 0.085). Qualitative responses indicated the importance of discussion in development teams to avoid or mitigate bias, suggesting the need for organizational psychological safety.
Conclusion
The paper provides novel contributions to the human dimension of bias in AI and IT in general. Results show that men and women IT professionals were aware of DT, yet men professionals were more likely to mitigate bias through collecting insight from end-users.
期刊介绍:
Information and Software Technology is the international archival journal focusing on research and experience that contributes to the improvement of software development practices. The journal''s scope includes methods and techniques to better engineer software and manage its development. Articles submitted for review should have a clear component of software engineering or address ways to improve the engineering and management of software development. Areas covered by the journal include:
• Software management, quality and metrics,
• Software processes,
• Software architecture, modelling, specification, design and programming
• Functional and non-functional software requirements
• Software testing and verification & validation
• Empirical studies of all aspects of engineering and managing software development
Short Communications is a new section dedicated to short papers addressing new ideas, controversial opinions, "Negative" results and much more. Read the Guide for authors for more information.
The journal encourages and welcomes submissions of systematic literature studies (reviews and maps) within the scope of the journal. Information and Software Technology is the premiere outlet for systematic literature studies in software engineering.