EXAMINING GENDER AND NATIONALITY BIAS IN DECISION-MAKING BY ENGINEERING STUDENT TEAMS

This study uses two-stage team quizzes to assess differences in team decision-making based on the factors gender and nationality.  Over 200 teams in two different engineering design courses delivered using Team-Based Learning across five years were considered.  In the two-stage quizzes, individuals first committed to their own answers, and then the team discussed the same questions and answered as a group.  Cases where an individual was incorrect and the team adopted that same incorrect answer were used as a measure of influence of that individual on team decision-making (i.e., “pushing” behaviour by the individual).  Similarly, cases where an individual was correct but the team adopted a different (incorrect) answer were used as a measure of lack of influence (i.e., “switching” behaviour by the individual).  Overall, no significant gender or nationality differences were found in pushing behaviours.  Male students and international students were found to be more likely to engage in switching behaviours.  The overall differences in switching were modest (0.3-0.4% difference per question), but this translates to between 5 and 15 more male/international students engaging in switching behaviours in a typical 75- to 150-student course.