Political bias in academia and a paired-samples
t test: The following is an excerpt from the
abstract (brief opening summary) from a published research study
that examined a reported bias against conservatives in American
academia (Fosse, Gross, & Ma, 2011).
The American professoriate contains a disproportionate number
of people with liberal political views. Is this because of
political bias or discrimination?…We sent two emails to directors
of graduate study in the leading American departments of sociology,
political science, economics, history, and English. The emails came
from fictitious students who expressed interest in doing graduate
work in the department.… We analyze responses received in terms of
frequency, timing, amount of information provided about the
department, emotional warmth, and enthusiasm toward the
student. (p. 1)
One of the fictional emails was from a fictional student who
mentioned working on the presidential campaign of John McCain, a
well-known conservative, and one was from a fictional student who
mentioned working on the presidential campaign of Barack Obama, a
well-known liberal. The researchers conducted a series of
paired-samples t tests but did not find statistically
significant differences on the various measures between ratings of
the conservative and liberal students.
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