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A QUANTITATIVE METHOD FOR MEASURING SEX “BIAS” IN STANDARDIZED TESTS 1
Author(s) -
FAGGENSTECKLER JANE,
McCARTHY KAREN A.,
TITTLE CAROL K.
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
journal of educational measurement
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.917
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1745-3984
pISSN - 0022-0655
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-3984.1974.tb00987.x
Subject(s) - noun , psychology , test (biology) , pronoun , index (typography) , standardized test , statistics , developmental psychology , linguistics , computer science , natural language processing , mathematics education , mathematics , world wide web , biology , paleontology , philosophy
The item content of eight standardized tests was examined for sex imbalance as well as for stereotyped representations of women. A quantitative method for classifying tests with respect to sex imbalance was devised which depended upon the frequency counts of male and female nouns and pronouns. Applications of this method revealed that all eight of the standardized tests exhibited considerable sex imbalance and, further, that this sex imbalance was not due to the language restrictions of English. For 19 of the 27 batteries analyzed, males are referred to more than twice as often as females. For only one battery, females were referred to more often than males. Test constructors, editors, and publishers are invited to make use of the index to measure sex imbalance in new, as well as already published testing materials. In this way, the undesirable reinforcement of discriminating sex‐role stereotyping can be curtailed, and the preponderance of male noun and pronoun references can be eliminated.