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University of Colorado Boulder Going Blind to See the Stars: Removing PI Name Decreases Gender Bias in Hubble Proposal Ratings Stefanie K. Johnson University of Colorado-Boulder
University of ColoradoBoulder
GoingBlindtoSeetheStars:RemovingPINameDecreasesGenderBiasinHubbleProposal
Ratings
Stefanie K. JohnsonUniversity of Colorado-Boulder
University of ColoradoBoulder
BackgroundGenderdiversityleadstogreaterinnovation
Womenrepresentonly28%ofallS&Eoccupations
Evidencethatbiasagainstwomendoesexist
Institutionalforces– genderroleexpectationsandavailablerolemodels
University of ColoradoBoulder
BlindingHubbleimplementedblindingprocedureNostudieshavetestedimpactofblindingprocedures
University of ColoradoBoulder
MethodQuasi-experimentalfieldstudy
InvestigatetheeffectsofHubbleblinding
Cycle21andCycle24
Onlyabout20%ofapplicationsreceiveaccess
University of ColoradoBoulder
University of ColoradoBoulder
University of ColoradoBoulder
University of ColoradoBoulder
HSTVisitTworesearchersattendedthe2017TACmeeting
Qualitativeapproach
Blindingremovedfirstname(leavinginitial)anddidnotidentifyPI
Focusedoncontentandtoneofconversations
University of ColoradoBoulder
QualitativeApproachObserved13ofthe16panelsacrossthreedays
Recordednotesonapplicationconversations
Observedthat50%ofapplicationconversationsincludesomementionofthePIorteam
University of ColoradoBoulder
ThePIandTeam“He[referringtotheauthor]isverywellqualified”
“Mygrouphasbenefittedalotfrompreviousworkfromthisteam”
Panelmembersevenpulledupresearcharticlesbytheteamandnotedtheirhighcitationcount
University of ColoradoBoulder
Recommendations• Fullyblindtheapplications
• Authorguidelines
• Separateevaluationofscienceandmanagement
• Moretrainingforpanelchairs
• Trainingonuseofscaleanddisucssions
