4 ms·

In general it's very hard to control for all factors. The most compelling analysis with robust controls that I have seen is: http://www.nber.org/papers/w5903 ht

In general it's very hard to control for all factors. The most compelling analysis with robust controls that I have seen is: http://www.nber.org/papers/w5903 http://www.nber.org/papers/w5903 The paper shows that adding a screen to orchestra auditions significantly increased the number of women who were chosen for symphony positions. The study is very compelling because the cause/effect relationship of gender-blinding the auditions can be observed very directly. A musical audition is somewhat unique in that you can conduct the "interview" in a way that the "interviewer" remains blind to gender/race/etc.

joshuapants 12y ago
One problem with this is that orchestral music is a very traditional, opinionated industry. There could be biases specific to that setting that don't show up in others.
- eevilspock 12y ago
  Are you suggesting that the software tech industry isn't in its own way at least as traditional and opinionated?
  - joshuapants 12y ago
    The software industry is at most, what? 100 years old? 55 years old if you want to start from the beginning of the rise of business computing? It's an industry created in the midst of massive social changes that has been chasing moving targets from the beginning. Orchestral music (as we know it, an argument could be made for orchestra-like organizations going back another few millennia) has been around since the 16th century or so. That is a much longer time for exclusive traditions to develop. I'm sure they're both traditional and opinionated, but I would expect that the scale at which they manifest them will be very different.
Niten 12y ago
Well it wouldn't be that outlandish to do truly blind programming interviews. Just use a collaborative editor and possibly wacom stylus (can't be any more cumbersome than the traditional whiteboard), plus a text chat interface to conduct the interview. The interviewer interacts with the candidate in real time but doesn't see him or her. Where cheating is a concern you can have a different employee (who does not provide interview feedback) monitoring the candidate over a camera to ensure they're only using the approved terminal, not phoning a friend. Any medium to large-sized software company should be able to pull this off, and it would eliminate the possibility of gender bias in the interview results.
- gregory144 12y ago
  I agree with you that this would be a great experiment. However, that won't stop any potential bias once they get the job.
  - thesimpsons1022 12y ago
    simple. require everyone to work in cubicles that are closed off where your coworkers cant see you. all voice chats must be done without video and with voice modulation technology so that gender can not play a role. Also, the persons name must always be changed to J Smith to not hint at gender or race.
    - Zuider 12y ago
      Or change the name 'J. Doe' so you can't even tell if they are alive or not.
  - Niten 12y ago
    Agreed, of course. But I still think it's a good idea to eliminate one opportunity for bias if we can.
- proveanegative 12y ago
  >wacom stylus That might not work as intended. According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphology http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphology), >Uniformly the research indicates that gender can be determined [from handwriting] at a significant level. Considering the subject is graphology, of course, one may question the quality of the studies cited but at least the journals like Journal of Applied Psychology appear legitimate.

joshuapants 12y ago

One problem with this is that orchestral music is a very traditional, opinionated industry. There could be biases specific to that setting that don't show up in others.

eevilspock 12y ago
Are you suggesting that the software tech industry isn't in its own way at least as traditional and opinionated?
- joshuapants 12y ago
  The software industry is at most, what? 100 years old? 55 years old if you want to start from the beginning of the rise of business computing? It's an industry created in the midst of massive social changes that has been chasing moving targets from the beginning. Orchestral music (as we know it, an argument could be made for orchestra-like organizations going back another few millennia) has been around since the 16th century or so. That is a much longer time for exclusive traditions to develop. I'm sure they're both traditional and opinionated, but I would expect that the scale at which they manifest them will be very different.

Niten 12y ago

Well it wouldn't be that outlandish to do truly blind programming interviews. Just use a collaborative editor and possibly wacom stylus (can't be any more cumbersome than the traditional whiteboard), plus a text chat interface to conduct the interview. The interviewer interacts with the candidate in real time but doesn't see him or her. Where cheating is a concern you can have a different employee (who does not provide interview feedback) monitoring the candidate over a camera to ensure they're only using the approved terminal, not phoning a friend. Any medium to large-sized software company should be able to pull this off, and it would eliminate the possibility of gender bias in the interview results.

gregory144 12y ago
I agree with you that this would be a great experiment. However, that won't stop any potential bias once they get the job.
- thesimpsons1022 12y ago
  simple. require everyone to work in cubicles that are closed off where your coworkers cant see you. all voice chats must be done without video and with voice modulation technology so that gender can not play a role. Also, the persons name must always be changed to J Smith to not hint at gender or race.
  - Zuider 12y ago
    Or change the name 'J. Doe' so you can't even tell if they are alive or not.
- Niten 12y ago
  Agreed, of course. But I still think it's a good idea to eliminate one opportunity for bias if we can.
proveanegative 12y ago
>wacom stylus That might not work as intended. According to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphology http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphology), >Uniformly the research indicates that gender can be determined [from handwriting] at a significant level. Considering the subject is graphology, of course, one may question the quality of the studies cited but at least the journals like Journal of Applied Psychology appear legitimate.