Another Study Supporting Underestimation of Women's Research
Hi friends of women in science,
I had saved and now am getting back around to a Huffington Post article from April 22 called "Women in science disadvantaged: Work by male scientists associated with higher quality." At first, I was outraged, thinking it meant male scientists did higher quality work, but again it's about perception by others of work by women. The article cites a study from Ohio State University by a team headed by Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick. They asked 243 communication graduate students (so not so old and set in their ways) to evaluate abstracts from a 2010 conference and to complete a questionnaire on gender. The abstracts were presented as being written by male or female authors and were on gendered or neutral topics. Points were given for "rigorous," "by competent authors," "Influential," "important," "Innovative," "publishable in a prestigious journal," "high-quality contribution," and "reflective of expertise."
Sadly, as in earlier studies of academic attitudes by professors, both sexes considered male authored studies (as reflected by the names on the abstracts) to be higher quality and more publishable. The respondents were asked if they would like to collaborate with the author, and male authors were more attractive as collaborators. "'The overall conclusion,' the researchers wrote in the study, 'is that male scholars will have a much smoother ride.'"
What has been your experience of collaboration? Do other researchers seek you out for collaboration? Do they accept if you seek them out?
cheers,
Laura
My answer to your poll:
I've had very few people approach me for collaborations and I often receive no response or wary responses to collaboration requests. I'm in geosciences.
Hi Laura--
I have had pretty good luck with collaboration especially with MDs who want to get into basic research. But I can't say how it would be if you just do basic work without any obvious med applications to test.
cheers,
Donna
Hi Ex CS,
Yes, I think it likely does vary with fields, but even in biology it could be a problem. In molecular gerontology, I never had anyone turn me down if I asked to collaborate with them, but I can't recall but one man who ever asked me to collaborate. Several women asked, though. Is this "Lean In?" Maybe!
cheers,
Laura
Hi Laura,
I think this might well vary between fields. Men in comp sci almost never asked me to collaborate, and if I asked them (rarely) they were busy and said they'd get back to me, but they never did.
EX CS
