18.40Reducing the gender gap. In many science disciplines, women are outperforme

Question

18.40Reducing the gender gap. In many science disciplines, women are outperformed by men on test scores. Will “values affirmation training” improve self-confidence and hence performance of women relative to men in science courses? A study conducted at a large university compares the scores of men and women at the end of a large introductory physics course on a nationally normed standardized test of conceptual physics, the Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation (FMCE). Half the women in the course were given values affirmation training during the course; the other half received no training. The study reports that there was a significant difference (P < 0.01) in the gap between men’s and women’s scores, although the gap for women who received the values affirmation training was much smaller than that for women who did not receive training. The study also reports that a 95% confidence interval for the mean difference in scores on the FMCE exam between women who received the training and those who didn’t is 13 ± 8 points. You are a faculty member in the physics department, and the provost, who is interested in women in science, asks you about the study.

(a)Explain in simple language what “a significant difference (P < 0.01)” means.

(b)Explain clearly and briefly what “95% confidence” means.

(c)Is this study good evidence that requiring values affirmation training of all female students would greatly reduce the gender gap in scores on science tests in college courses?

Explanation / Answer

a)

Statistically significant is the likelihood that a relationship between two or more variables is caused by something other than random chance. Statistical hypothesis testing is used to determine whether the result of a data set is statistically significant.

In this case the gap between males and females score is caused by something other than random chance.

b)

95% confidence means, if you select large number of samples then 95% of times the true population mean difference lies between 13+/-8

c)

Yes,  this is study good evidence that requiring values affirmation training of all female students would greatly reduce the gender gap in scores on science tests in college courses

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse 1
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.