Dual-anonymization Yields Promising Results for Reducing Gender Bias: A Naturalistic Field Experiment of Applications for Hubble Space Telescope Time

Monday 29 Nov 2021, 13:30 → 13:50 Europe/Rome

0/0-3 - Sala Rosino (Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia - Edificio ex-Rizzato)

Speakers: Irene Salmaso (Università degli Studi di Padova)

Using archival data, we examine the effects of the Hubble Space Telescope Time Allocation Committee (HST TAC)ʼs decision to adopt a dual- rather than single-anonymous review process. The change involved removing, to varying degrees, information about the Principal Investigator (PI)with the goal of reducing bias against women.
Proposals led by female PIs were significantly more likely to be accepted in the five cycles following the changes
compared to the 11 cycles using a single-anonymous review system. Taking a closer look at why these changes emerged, we examined data at the reviewer-level in the cycle immediately preceding the change compared to three of the cycles after the change. We found that male reviewers rated female PIs significantly worse than they rated male PIs before, but not after, dual-anonymization was adopted.

JC schedule

Johnson_2020_PASP_132_034503.pdf

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