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Are There Gender Differences in Quantitative Student Evaluations of Instructors?

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Listed:
  • Nina Zipser

    (Harvard University)

  • Lisa Mincieli

    (Harvard University)

  • Dmitry Kurochkin

    (Harvard University)

Abstract

Recent research conducted at numerous universities has found evidence of instructor-gender differences in student evaluations of teaching (SET). This paper examines whether such gender effects exist in “instructor overall” ratings within a database of SET that includes almost 600,000 observations from the past 11 years for the Faculty of Arts and Sciences (FAS) at a large research university in the northeastern United States. First, using multivariate OLS regression analysis, we tested 32 hypotheses of gender differences within discipline-rank combinations. Of the 32, only two hypothesis tests showed statistically significant gender differences in the instructor overall rating; one discipline-rank combination had higher average scores for male instructors, and one discipline-rank combination had higher average scores for female instructors. Second, using quasi-experimental data from calculus courses, we found that mean instructor overall scores of female instructors were different from those of male instructors only for Teaching Assistants (TAs) and Teaching Fellows (TFs), with higher scores for female TAs and TFs. Overall, we find no evidence of systematic gender differences in our analysis.

Suggested Citation

  • Nina Zipser & Lisa Mincieli & Dmitry Kurochkin, 2021. "Are There Gender Differences in Quantitative Student Evaluations of Instructors?," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 62(7), pages 976-997, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:reihed:v:62:y:2021:i:7:d:10.1007_s11162-021-09628-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s11162-021-09628-w
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    References listed on IDEAS

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