From: Perdita Stevens <Perdita.Stevens@dcs.ed.ac.uk>
To: systers-academia@sunnyday.mit.edu
Subject: Solid research on bias: references?
Date: Fri, 12 Nov 99 17:58:40 GMT

I'm reasonably sure that I heard someone talk fairly recently about a study
in which (fictitious?) resumes of applicants for USA faculty positions were
altered to show either a male or a female name, and the resulting resumes
shown to heads of department for preliminary assessment of the candidates'
suitability for faculty positions. The study's conclusions, if I'm
remembering rightly, was that the "female" candidates were less often
judged suitable for interview and were judged suitable for interview for
lower positions.

I'm interested in finding out more details about what was actually done,
but I haven't managed to trace the paper, if indeed it exists, based on the
little I can remember about it, which doesn't include its authors or where
it was done! Does anyone recognise this study and can you provide a
reference?

I'd also be interested in anything similar, i.e. in research on the
existence or otherwise of "plain ordinary" bias in academia (anywhere),
where the only difference between (fictitious) academics is their gender
and one studies whether this alone makes a difference to some judgement
about them. Of course the more scientifically respectable the study the
better, but I'm interested in collecting whatever references there are on
the subject.

Please reply to me directly rather than to the list; I'll circulate a
collection of any references I get.

Thanks in advance,

Perdita
--
Dr. Perdita Stevens
Division of Informatics, University of Edinburgh
www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/home/pxs Fax: +44 131 667 7209