Improving Decision Making and Equity in Engineering Admissions

这一工程教育研究项目旨在探索是否可以构建大学招生文件，以改善招生官员的决策。心理偏见可能会阻碍招生官员做出理想决定的能力，这可能会导致合格的低收入和少数族裔学生被拒绝。这项实验研究将考察更改申请中包含的信息以及这些信息的显示顺序是否会影响招生官员关于接受哪些申请的决定。这里开发的干预措施有可能在大学录取过程中被工程专业学生和所有学生采用。这个项目的更广泛的意义和重要性是通过同时提高工程专业新生的质量和多样性的潜力而产生的。这个项目不仅可以为工程招生办公室的做法提供信息，还可以为重要的国家实体，如大学理事会和共同申请机构的活动提供信息。这个项目与NSF的战略目标重叠，即通过帮助学院和大学实现卓越和包容，作为一个模范组织来执行。此外，NSF为社会创新的目标是通过促进为教育政策和实践提供信息的研究来实现的。

This engineering education research project seeks to explore whether college admissions files can be structured to improve the decision making of admissions officers. Psychological biases may hinder the ability of admissions officers to make ideal decisions, which could lead to the rejection of well-qualified low-income and minority students. This experimental study will examine whether changing the information included with the application, along with the order in which that information appears, will affect admissions officers' decisions about which applications to accept. The interventions developed here have the potential to be adopted within college admissions processes for engineering majors and for all students.The broader significance and importance of this project arises through the potential for simultaneously improving the quality and diversity of incoming engineering students. This project may inform not only practices in engineering admissions offices, but also the activities of important national entities such as the College Board and Common Application. This project overlaps with NSF's strategic goal for performing as a model organization by helping colleges and universities attain both excellence and inclusion. Additionally NSF's goal of innovating for society is enabled by facilitating research that informs educational policies and practices.