Gender and peer evaluations

Abstract

Peer evaluations for nearly 1,650 students in three different team-based learning economics courses are analyzed for evidence of gender differences in ratings given and received. The analysis controls for general academic skills and economics-specific skills as well as other individual and team characteristics. Females earn higher evaluations than males in introductory and intermediate-level microeconomic theory courses even when conditioning on achievement, but there is no statistically significant difference in a more advanced course. Finally, there is little evidence of gender bias in evaluations given; both males and females rate female teammates higher than male teammates.

Keywords:

• Economic education
• gender
• peer evaluation
• team-based learning

JEL CODES:

• A2
• A22

Notes

1 For more detail on implementing TBL in economics courses, see Clerici-Arias (2021), Green (2021), and Ruder, Maier, and Simkins (2021).

2 Histograms for peer evaluations by gender for each of the three courses are available upon request.

3 The first alternative was a gender diversity index equal to 1 minus the sum of squared proportions of each gender. A gender-balanced team would have an index equal to 0.5, while one with no gender diversity would have an index equal to 0. The second alternative was the use of two variables, each indicating the extent of male or female dominance on a team, calculated as percent male minus 0.5 for majority male teams and percent female minus 0.5 for female majority teams.

4 Indicator variables for whether or not the student being evaluated is the only female or one of two females on her team are also considered but were not found to be statistically significant, so they are not reported here.