Gender Bias in Student Evaluations

• Published in: PS, political science & politics Vol. 51; no. 3; pp. 648 - 652
• Main Authors: Mitchell, Kristina M. W., Martin, Jonathan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, USA Cambridge University Press 01.07.2018
• Subjects: Bias; Coding; College faculty; College students; Colleges & universities; Compensation; Competence; Content analysis; Educational evaluation; Educational psychology; Employment; Evidence; Exhibits; Faculty Evaluation; Faculty Promotion; Females; Gender; Gender Bias; Gender Discrimination; Intelligence; Internet; Males; Men; Online Courses; Online instruction; Perceptions; Personality; Personnel Selection; Political science; Quantitative analysis; Stereotypes; Student attitudes; Student Evaluation; Student Evaluation of Teacher Performance; Teacher Characteristics; Teacher Effectiveness; Teacher evaluations; Teaching; Teaching methods; Teaching Styles; Tenure; The Teacher; Women
• ISSN: 1049-0965; 1537-5935
• DOI: 10.1017/S104909651800001X

Many universities use student evaluations of teachers (SETs) as part of consideration for tenure, compensation, and other employment decisions. However, in doing so, they may be engaging in discriminatory practices against female academics. This study further explores the relationship between gender and SETs described by MacNell, Driscoll, and Hunt (2015) by using both content analysis in student-evaluation comments and quantitative analysis of students’ ordinal scoring of their instructors. The authors show that the language students use in evaluations regarding male professors is significantly different than language used in evaluating female professors. They also show that a male instructor administering an identical online course as a female instructor receives higher ordinal scores in teaching evaluations, even when questions are not instructor-specific. Findings suggest that the relationship between gender and teaching evaluations may indicate that the use of evaluations in employment decisions is discriminatory against women.