The Effect of Gender on Course Evaluations in Criminal Justice

• In Event: Poster Session 2

Abstract

Research continues to show that there are gender differences in instructor evaluations in higher education, often indicating bias against female identifying instructors. This article extends on existing literature through an examination of gender and course performance on student course evaluations in an online criminal justice course. Specifically, the study examines student evaluations in two identical online upper-level undergraduate criminal justice courses. All content, including announcements, assignments, grading schemes, were identical where the only difference between courses was the gender of the instructor of record. Instructors included a photo with their welcome note for the course, but otherwise were the same. This study contains both a quantitative and qualitative component, using data in the form of final course grades, student demographics, and anonymized student course evaluations. Findings will be discussed in relation to the existing literature surrounding gender and student course evaluations.

Authors

• Mark Saber, Sam Houston State University

• Brooke Nodeland, Sam Houston State University