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Research Details
An Empirical Test of an Intervention to Reduce Pandemic-Related Inequities in Academic Science
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic significantly affected the research productivity of professors, especially mothers, leaving universities with questions about how to account for pandemic-related disruptions in tenure decisions. An increasingly widespread policy allows faculty to include a COVID-19 impact statement, in which faculty document pandemic-related challenges, in their tenure dossiers. Yet, the effect of these statements on faculty evaluations has not been studied empirically. While the intent of these statements is to produce more fair or equitable evaluations, prior research suggests these statements could backfire for certain faculty groups by making biases related to gender or caregiving salient. Through a survey experiment with full professors (n = 602) in the biological and physical sciences at R1 universities in the United States, we provide the first empirical investigation of the effects of COVID-19 impact statements on faculty evaluations.
Type
Working Paper
Author(s)
Lauren Rivera, Katherine Weisshaar, Andras Tilcsik
Date Published
2024
Citations
Rivera, Lauren, Katherine Weisshaar, and Andras Tilcsik. 2024. An Empirical Test of an Intervention to Reduce Pandemic-Related Inequities in Academic Science.