scholarly journals Gender, Teaching Evaluations, and Professional Success in Political Science

2016 ◽  
Vol 49 (02) ◽  
pp. 313-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa L. Martin
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Gender Bias ◽  
Teaching Effectiveness ◽  
Female Faculty ◽  
Student Evaluations Of Teaching ◽  
Teaching Evaluations ◽  
Professional Success ◽  
Role Incongruity ◽  
Science Departments ◽  
Theories Of Leadership

ABSTRACTEvaluations of teaching effectiveness rely heavily on student evaluations of teaching. However, an accumulating body of evidence shows that these evaluations are subject to gender bias. Theories of leadership and role incongruity suggest that this bias should be especially prominent in large courses. This article examines publicly available data from two large political science departments and finds that female instructors receive substantively and significantly lower ratings than male instructors in large courses. The author discusses the implications of apparent gender bias in teaching evaluations for the professional success of female faculty. Findings of gender bias in evaluations in other fields also hold in political science and are particularly problematic in the evaluation of large courses.

Contradicting findings of gender bias in teaching evaluations: Evidence from two experiments in Denmark

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Skorkjær Binderkrantz ◽  
Mette Bisgaard ◽  
Berit Lassesen
Keyword(s):  
Gender Bias ◽  
Observational Studies ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Gender Effects ◽  
Performance Evaluations ◽  
Student Evaluations Of Teaching ◽  
Teaching Evaluations ◽  
Public Sector Employees ◽  
Evaluation Of Teaching

The role of gender in the interaction between citizens and public sector employees attracts increasing attention. Notably, gender effects have been described in performance evaluations across different contexts. With respect to student evaluations of teaching, a series of observational studies as well as experimental studies have found that women are evaluated lower than men. In this paper, we conduct two experiments in Denmark to test whether a similar gender bias is present in a national context that is generally considered among the most gender equal. Study 1 investigates differences in the evaluation of two similar presentations by teachers reported to be either male or female. Study 2 focuses on the evaluation of teaching material prepared by men and women respectively. The two studies arrive at similar conclusions: There is no gender bias in favor of men in the evaluations made by students. The paper discusses the implications of these findings.

Can Women Teach Math (and Be Promoted)? A Meta-analysis of Gender Differences across Student Evaluations of Teaching

2021 ◽  
Vol 111 ◽  
pp. 184-189
Author(s):  
Amanda J. Felkey ◽  
Cassondra Batz-Barbarich
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Gender Differences ◽  
Gender Bias ◽  
Student Teaching ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Student Evaluations Of Teaching ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Teaching Evaluations ◽  
Combining Data ◽  
The Subject

Academic women in economics have different experiences and outcomes than men and women in other social science fields do, including bias within their performance evaluation instruments, student teaching evaluations (STEs). Despite research citing biases in STEs, no study summarized the magnitude of these biases. A systematic review and meta-analysis addresses this by combining data from all prior research on the subject. Our meta-analysis examines gender bias in STEs, finding significant gender differences in economics favoring men but no evidence for gender differences in the remaining social sciences. Implications are discussed, and recommendations are made.

Stewart-Williams and Halsey argue persuasively that gender bias is just one of many causes of women’s underrepresentation in science

2021 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-44
Author(s):  
Stephen J Ceci ◽  
Shulamit Kahn ◽  
Wendy M Williams
Keyword(s):  
Gender Bias ◽  
Spatial Abilities ◽  
Sociocultural Factors ◽  
Gender Gaps ◽  
Teaching Evaluations ◽  
Evolutionary Origins ◽  
Funding Success ◽  
Acceptance Rates ◽  
Recent Synthesis ◽  
Letters Of Recommendation

Stewart-Williams and Halsey provide an unusually broad synthesis of the enormous literature on gender gaps in hiring, letters of recommendation, mathematical and spatial abilities, email appointment-making, people vs things orientation, within-gender variability, salaries, occupational preferences, and employment discrimination. They argue that sociocultural factors, while important, cannot by themselves account for the entirety of these gaps. In addition, they argue that factors resulting from evolutionary origins, cognitive ability gaps at the extreme right tail of the distribution, and underlying gender differences in abilities, preferences, and values are needed to explain why women are less well represented in the most math-intensive fields. In our commentary, we reprise our own recent synthesis (unpublished) of gender gaps in six domains (letters of recommendation, academic hiring, salaries, teaching evaluations, journal acceptance rates, grant funding success) and put our results in the context of these authors' arguments.

Using Community Resources to Teach Public Policy

1984 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Keith J. Mueller
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Health Policy ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Community Resources ◽  
Alternative Instruction ◽  
Policy Studies ◽  
The Public ◽  
Energy Environment ◽  
Science Departments ◽  
Specific Health

The recent growth in policy studies curricula in political science departments affords increased opportunities for experimentation with alternative instruction modes. This article describes one innovation found to be appropriate for courses for which the instructor has access to experts in the policy being studied. In this example, community experts in health policy issues were used as resource persons to assist in discussion of specific health policy concerns. Other policy courses should be amenable to this format, including energy, environment, and economic development courses. Even without using community experts, the general format of weekly colloquiums could be replicated for other policy courses.The courses described herein is an upper division/graduate level course in American Health Policy. It is taught for one semester every other year as one of several topical courses in the public policy track within political science.

scholarly journals Career Preparation and the Political Science Major: Evidence from Departments

2012 ◽  
Vol 45 (01) ◽  
pp. 87-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Todd A. Collins ◽  
H. Gibbs Knotts ◽  
Jen Schiff
Keyword(s):  
Political Science ◽  
Department Chairs ◽  
Career Preparation ◽  
Sat Scores ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
University Campuses ◽  
Lack Of Information ◽  
Faculty And Administrators ◽  
Science Major ◽  
Science Departments

AbstractWe know little about the amount of career preparation offered to students in political science departments. This lack of information is particularly troubling given the state of the current job market and the growth of applied degree programs on university campuses. To address this issue, this article presents the results of a December 2010 survey of 279 political science department chairs that asked questions about the level of career preparation in their respective departments. Based on our empirical findings, we believe that political science departments are not doing enough to address their students' career preparation. Our results demonstrate that most departments rely on voluntary internships and faculty advisers to address career-related issues for political science majors. Only a few departments use required internships, required resumes, specific classes related to career preparation, and social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn to support career preparation. We also found substantial differences in career preparation across department type (BA, MA, and PhD) and between public and private universities, urban and rural universities, and universities with different average SAT scores. Our findings should interest faculty and administrators who are concerned with different approaches to career preparation on college campuses.

scholarly journals The Effects Of Different Sections And Students Pre-Course Interest On An Instructors Teaching Evaluations

2007 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Obeua S. Persons
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Teaching Effectiveness ◽  
Higher Education Administrators ◽  
Teaching Evaluations ◽  
Teaching Ability ◽  
Education Administrators

This study has identified two important factors, unrelated to an instructor’s teaching ability, which can affect an instructor’s teaching evaluations.  The first factor, which has never been examined in any prior studies, is the section effect.  This study finds that teaching evaluations differ significantly across sections of the same course taught by the same instructor.  This section effect cannot be explained by six student-related variables.  The second factor, which is students’ pre-course interest measured at the beginning of a course, is found to be positively related to teaching evaluations.  These findings suggest that higher-education administrators may want to consider the section effect and the students’ pre-course interest when they evaluate an instructor’s teaching effectiveness for promotion, tenure and merit decisions.

scholarly journals Departmental Engagement in Doctoral Professional Development: Lessons from Political Science

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 37-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Loleen Berdahl ◽  
Jonathan Malloy
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Department Chairs ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Career Preparation ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
Canadian Universities ◽  
Communication And Coordination ◽  
Science Departments

There is widespread discussion about the need to develop and enhance the career prospects of PhD graduates, and many Canadian universities are seeking to provide professional development programs and mentorship specifically for doctoral students. This paper considers doctoral career preparation from the department level through an in-depth examination of how Canadian political science departments approach the issue, drawing on a survey of department chairs. We find that departments are supportive of professional development; while departments are not in the position to provide extensive programs and struggle to integrate efforts systematically, they are well-positioned to participate in collaborative approaches and welcome improved communication and coordination. We argue that graduate faculties should consult with departments and engage them in professional development program design, perhaps tailoring to specific disciplines as needed, and that departments should look for opportunities to work with graduate faculties before initiating their own programs.

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