Student evaluations of team members: Is there gender bias?

The ability to work effectively in teams is a critical learning outcome for engineering students. It is among the ABET requirements and a skill desired by employers for it is integral to innovation, product development, and to a positive working environment. Many engineering courses provide students with opportunities to develop their team skills through projects, in-class activities, and other assignments. Peer assessment of team skills increases student accountability to teammates, helps students gauge what is expected from them, and assists instructors in assigning course grades. However, there are few studies examining whether gender bias occurs during peer assessment. This work aims to address this gap. Using a randomized experiment, this study examines whether there are differences in how students evaluate the performance of male and female team members. The survey participants include 590 first-year engineering students at a research institution in the Midwest. Each participant rated and evaluated the skills and qualities of a fictional team member. The description of the fictional team member is exactly the same, except the name assigned to the fictional member was randomly depicted as female or male. The results indicate that there is no difference in how students evaluate male and female fictional team members. The female team members, however, received higher ratings related to their contributions and punctuality. These findings are consistent with previous research on gender bias on teaming evaluations at the undergraduate level, and suggest that peer assessments may be a useful method to provide students with additional feedback regarding their team skills.