Guidelines for avoiding sexism in psychological research: A report of the Ad Hoc Committee on Nonsexist Research.

Abstract

This article is intended primarily for psychologists and for students of psychology who are developing skills in research design and methodology. It has become clear that much research on human and animal behavior incorporates a variety of forms of sexism. Such sexism introduces unwanted bias into the research.The elimination of gender bias in psychological research is an important concern for the discipline of psychology. Researchers should attempt to achieve the highest methodological and ethical standards. To help to enhance the quality of psychological research, the Board of Social and Ethical Responsibility for Psychology formed an Ad Hoc Committee on Nonsexist Research to develop materials to educate psychologists about ways to eliminate gender bias in research. This article was developed under the auspices of that committee, which was composed of representatives from the Board of Scientific Affairs, the Board of Social and Ethical Responsibility for Psychology, and the Committee on Women in Psychology.Reviews of the literature document the pervasiveness of gender bias at all stages of research: question formulation, research design, data analysis and interpretation, and conclusion formulation. This document identifies some of the ways that gender bias can affect research at each of these stages. The examples given are derived from current literature. The discussion on the following pages is intended to illustrate general problems. "It is not exhaustive. Additional sources of information are also listed.Whenever values and assumptions---whether related to gender, race, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status--affect the research process, bias can operate. This article focuses on gender, but the principles illustrated here apply to other forms of bias as well.This article provides examples of common avoidable problems as well as suggestions for eliminating such bias.

Be the fairest of them all: Challenges and recommendations for the treatment of gender in occupational health research

“…Such analysis looks at data by gender in order to put health indicators in the context of the different experiences and exposures of women and men [Health Canada, 2000]. Some research organizations, particularly in the social sciences, have developed guidelines for the consideration of gender in research [Denmark et al, 1988;Eichler and Lapointe, 1992]. In the US and Canada, medical researchers receiving federal funding are required to include women in studies.…”

“The Test of a Civilization Is the Way that It Cares for Its Helpless Members”: Violence Against Older Women

“…For example, many researchers cling to the stereotype that violence, especially sexual violence, only happens to younger women (Fulmer et al, 2004;Kilbane & Spira, 2010;Leisey, Kupstas, & Cooper, 2009) As Frieze (2008) pointed out, values can greatly impact research on violence, and assumptions influence all aspects of the research process (Denmark, Russo, Frieze, & Sechzer, 1988). The misconception that older women are not affected by abuse can lead to the second major problem in the literature: Mid-life and older women are frequently not included in domestic abuse studies (Coker et al, 2002;McGarry et al, 2011).…”

Use of Gender Aschematicity in the Reassessment of Gender Concepts

“…Conversely, research on sexed/gendered similarities attempts to account for social and biological influences fairly equally. Additional bias enforced by peer review magnifies the presence of differences represented, as studies finding differences are more likely to be published than studies finding similarities (Denmark, Russo, Frieze, & Sechzer, 1988).…”