Student and Professor Gender Effects in Introductory Business Statistics

Abstract

Studies have yielded highly mixed results as to differences in male and female student performance in statistics courses; the role that professors play in these differences is even less clear. In this paper, we consider the impact of professor and student gender on student performance in an introductory business statistics course taught by economics faculty. Using a sample of 535 students, we find, after controlling for academic and mathematical background, that students taught by a professor of the opposite gender fare significantly worse than students taught by a professor of the same gender. The presence of this gender effect highlights the importance of pursuing sound, gender-neutral pedagogical practices in introductory statistics education.

• business statistics
• introductory statistics
• education research
• student genderq

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to M. Kevin McGee, Denise Robson, and Mike Watson for their helpful comments and useful suggestions.