Are students really biased against female professors? — Experimental evidence from India
中文摘要
我们利用一项自然田野实验，考察印度学生教学评价（SETs）中是否存在性别偏见。在前两种实验处理中，我们随机安排504名学生听取内容完全相同的视听讲座，并操纵学生所感知的教授性别。在随后的两种实验处理中，我们提供关于教授资历的额外信息，以传递其能力的信号。当我们改变学生所感知的教授性别时，平均而言，我们并未发现女性与男性教授所获学生教学评价存在任何统计显著的差异。然而，在提供额外信息的实验处理中，被学生感知为女性的教授平均获得更高的学生教学评价。此外，我们发现，内群体偏袒可能是解释研究结果的一个潜在渠道。我们的研究结果凸显了学生教学评价中性别偏见的情境依赖性，并提供了信息的影响因性别而异的证据。
Abstract
We investigate the presence of gender bias in student evaluations of teaching (SETs) in India using a natural field experiment. In the first two treatments, we randomly assigned 504 students to attend an identical audio–visual lecture, manipulating the perceived gender of the professor. In two subsequent treatments, we provide additional information about the professors’ credentials to signal their competence. When we vary the perceived gender, on average, we do not find any significant differences in SETs received by female and male professors. However, the perceived-female professor receives higher SETs on average in treatments with additional information. Further, we find that in-group bias can be a potential channel to explain our results. Our findings highlight the context-dependent nature of gender bias in SETs and provide evidence of the differential impact of information by gender.