Gender differences in individual and teammate performance evaluations by students on engineering design teams

Abstract

Evaluations of team participation and of individual students' value to the team were conducted in a first-year engineering design course at a public university in the western United States. The quantitative measures included a self-evaluation, as well as an evaluation of the performance of other team members. This study analyzes data from 866 students (232 women) in 22 classes during the period from spring 2002 through spring 2009. Parameters included: gender, self-evaluation score, evaluation score from peers and final numeric course grade. A Wilcoxon rank sum test was used to compare the differences between self- and team evaluation scores, as well as to compare average peer evaluation with final course grade. We did not find significant differences between male or female students in either self-evaluation or actual performance. It was also found that, irrespective of gender, students who had a 5% higher self-evaluation score than their team evaluation score actually received lower course grades than those who undervalued their contribution to their team. These results indicate that small, engineering-focused institutions may provide a learning environment and underlying support system for women that result in greater self-efficacy; or they may indicate that this type of institution attracts women students who already have a strong commitment to the study of engineering and the necessary tenacity to succeed in this field. © 2011 American Society for Engineering Education.