NPR on 4/22 had a piece on a social science study, which claimed that professors in general, and especially business school professors, exhibited significant bias against women, African-Americans, Hispanics & favoring white males. A new claim, only inasmuch as the study was done recently, and we'd like to think we're past and above that stuff.
Paper ref:
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2063742
The study singled out business school professors, as a group, as the most biased group around. Really?
In the comments, one participant/subject illustrated some reasons why the study methods could be inaccurately planned for the intended question, but didn't address the core conclusion.
We're supposed to be able to address our expertise & communication skills in a more or less socially neutral manner, are we not?
And many of us are positioned to address the details of the paper. If we can view analytically a claim that hits very close to home.
My three questions:
Are the key conclusions of the paper valid, for your school or for your department?
Does your work load seriously mitigate against giving 'mentoring inquires' such as used in this study, a serious consideration?
What is your semi-considered (short for time purposes) response to the claims of this paper?
Jay
PS: For my own experience teaching at a school w/o a major graduate program: I have seen examples of individual bias (or worse) against women and against African-Americans.
Jay Warner
Principal Scientist
Warner Consulting, Inc.
4444 North Green Bay Road
Racine, WI 53404-1216
USA
Ph: 262.634.9100
The A2Q Method (tm) -- What do you want to improve today?