There is mixed evidence regarding the presence of gender bias in student evaluations of teaching (Foote, Harmon, & Mayo, 2003; Morgan et al., 2016). Given the importance placed on student evaluations of teaching in regards to promotion and tenure, it is essential to determine whether gender bias is present and to what extent (Laube, Massoni, Sprague, & Ferber, 2007). Many previous studies have shown there is strong evidence of implicit bias in the traits we expect to see from female and male professors, but these studies have been limited by how they identify the presence of bias (e.g. Basow, 1995; Bennet, 1982; Centra & Gaubatz, 2000, etc.). In face-to-face classrooms it is difficult to separate many confounding traits of a professor and of the semester as a whole from the gender of a professor. The purpose of the proposed study is to determine whether an online lab-based analog study will reveal the presence of gender bias in student evaluations of teaching. The proposed “course” that will be evaluated will be tightly controlled over a single setting, as opposed to the entire semester, allowing for strong internal validity. Our proposed online study will be run through Qualtrics. Participants will receive the same general course lecture, but will be randomly assigned to the narration voice of a male or female. They will then be asked to fill out a teaching evaluation of the professors. We hypothesize that female teachers will be evaluated less positively than male teachers, and that female students will rate female professors less positively than male professors.
References
Basow, S. A. (1995). Student evaluations of college professors: When gender matters. Journal of Educational Psychology, 87(4), 656–665. doi: 10.1037//0022-0663.87.4.656
Bennett, S. K. (1982). Student perceptions of and expectations for male and female instructors: Evidence relating to the question of gender bias in teaching evaluation. Journal of Educational Psychology, 74(2), 170–179. doi: 10.1037//0022-0663.74.2.170
Centra, J. A., & Gaubatz, N. B. (2000). Is There Gender Bias in Student Evaluations of Teaching? The Journal of Higher Education, 71(1), 17-33. doi: 10.1080/00221546.2000.11780814
Foote, D. A., Harmon, S. K., & Mayo, D. T. (2003). The Impacts of Instructional Style and Gender Role Attitude on Students’ Evaluation of Faculty. Marketing Education Review, 13(2), 9–19. doi: 10.1080/10528008.2003.11488824
Laube, H., Massoni, K., Sprague, J., & Ferber, A. (2007). The Impact of Gender on the Evaluation of Teaching: What We Know and What We Can Do. NWSA Journal, 19(3), 87-104. Retrieved from www.jstor.org/stable/40071230
Morgan, H. K., Purkiss, J. A., Porter, A. C., Lypson, M. L., Santen, S. A., Christner, J. G., Grum, C. M., & Hammoud, M. M. (2016). Student Evaluation of Faculty Physicians: Gender Differences in Teaching Evaluations. Journal of Women’s Health (15409996), 25(5), 453–456. https://doi-org.dist.lib.usu.edu/10.1089/jwh.2015.5475
