A new intervention developed by Iowa State University researchers may help reduce bias against female instructors on student course evaluations.

Research shows female instructors are often evaluated more harshly than men, according to a news release, so a committee formed at ISU to design an experiment aimed at making students aware of potential biases when completing evaluations.

After revising the standard evaluation form used at the university to included language intended to mitigate gender bias, researchers administered either a standard or intervention evaluation to four separate classes. All evaluations were completed online. 

According to the release, in the intervention group, answers to overall evaluation of teaching were 0.41 points higher, teaching effectiveness 0.30 points higher and overall evaluation of the course 0.51 points higher than the group completing standard forms. The anti-bias language had no significant effect on evaluations of the male instructors.

The evaluations also included a question about gender, helping researchers to see if the intervention influenced men and women differently. They found it had no effect on female students evaluating female instructors, yet there was evidence that men were affected, specifically on overall ratings of the instructor and course.