Understanding When Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Work "Counts" in Faculty Evaluation

这项研究旨在通过测试“推动”干预措施来增加STEM学术工作场所的多样性，以帮助多样性，公平性和包容性（DEI）在晋升和终身教职决策中发挥作用。推动指的是对决策环境的故意改变，旨在引导人们采取特定行为，在这种情况下，这是对DEI工作的重视。许多机构都试图改革终身教职的程序，以奖励发展教育研究所的工作，但几乎没有具体的证据表明，这些举措中的任何一个都影响了终身教职的决定。尽管在组织和教育中广泛使用，但推动科学很少应用于教师评估决策。 该研究将使用实验小插曲方法（EVM），其中教师参与者将对虚构的申请人做出明确的决定。 教师参与者将从生物学（特别是生态学和进化生物学）和工程学中招募。从项目的调查结果的知识将提供有用的信息，以大学领导人寻求改革晋升和终身价值DEI工作。许多教师，包括不成比例的黑人，布朗和女教师，从事DEI工作，但一贯报告说，当涉及到任期和晋升，他们不确定他们的DEI工作是否以及如何计算在决策中。这项工作将研究三种不同的“助推”干预措施（a）提供公平收费，鼓励参与者重视DEI工作，（B）让终身职位候选人在其简历和个人陈述的单独部分强调他们的DEI努力，（c）让参与者使用DEI是列出的标准之一的标题，是否比其他人更有影响力。一个实验性的小插曲方法（EVM）将被使用，其中教师参与者将作出关于一个虚构的申请人明确的决定。教师参与者将从生物学（特别是生态学和进化生物学）和工程学中招募。参与者将被随机分配一份档案，其中包括评估标准，简历和个人陈述。主要结果变量是参与者对教师任期的建议。这项研究是第一次使用实验设计来测试教师在STEM领域的终身教职决策中DEI的权重。该项目将推进知识，哪些类型的助推更有可能在教师评估设置，以及干预措施是否有不同的影响，这取决于候选人的感知身份。该项目由EHR核心研究（ECR）计划资助，该计划支持推进STEM学习和学习环境的基础研究，扩大STEM参与，以及STEM劳动力发展的工作。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This study aims to increase diversity in STEM academic workplaces by testing “nudge” interventions to help diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work matter in promotion and tenure decision-making. Nudges refer to deliberate changes to the decision-making context aimed at guiding people toward a particular behavior, which in this case is valuing DEI work. Many institutions have tried to reform the tenure process to reward DEI work, but there is little concrete evidence that any of these initiatives have shaped tenure decisions. Despite widespread use in organizations and education, nudge science has rarely been applied to faculty evaluation decisions. The study will use an experimental vignette methodology (EVM) in which faculty participants will make an explicit decision about a fictional applicant. Faculty participants will be recruited from biology (specifically ecology and evolutionary biology) and engineering. Knowledge from the project’s findings will provide useful information to university leaders seeking to reform promotion and tenure to value DEI work. Many faculty members, including a disproportionate number of Black, Brown, and women faculty, engage in DEI work, but consistently report that when it comes to tenure and promotion, they are not sure whether and how their DEI work counted in decisions made. This work will examine whether three different “nudge” interventions (a) providing an equity charge encouraging participants to value DEI work, (b) having the tenure candidate emphasize their DEI efforts in separated sections of their CV and personal statement, and (c) having participants use a rubric in which DEI is one of the criteria listed, are more influential than the others in shaping tenure decisions. An experimental vignette methodology (EVM) will be used in which faculty participants will make an explicit decision about a fictional applicant. Faculty participants will be recruited from biology (specifically ecology and evolutionary biology) and engineering. Participants will be randomly assigned a dossier that includes the evaluation criteria, a curriculum vitae, and a personal statement. The main outcome variable is the recommendation from the participant regarding faculty tenure. This study is the first to use an experimental design to test faculty weighting of DEI in tenure decisions in a STEM field. This project will advance knowledge about which kinds of nudges are more likely to work within faculty evaluation settings, and whether interventions have a different impact depending on the perceived identities of the candidates. This project is funded by the EHR Core Research (ECR) program, which supports work that advances fundamental research on STEM learning and learning environments, broadening participation in STEM, and STEM workforce development.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.