University of Minnesota Medical School, USA.
Children's Minnesota ENT and Facial Plastic Surgery, USA.
Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2024 Nov;186:112121. doi: 10.1016/j.ijporl.2024.112121. Epub 2024 Sep 27.
To analyze the language of letters of recommendation for pediatric otolaryngology fellowship for possible gender and/or racial bias. To refine methodology for future investigation of gender and language within letters of recommendation for pediatric otolaryngology fellowship.
Practicing pediatric otolaryngologists were recruited as survey participants. A total of 10 letters of recommendation were screened to represent an equal number of applicants who identify as male and female and an equal number of applicants who identify as White and applicants who identify as Black, Indigenous, or a Person of Color. Names, pronouns, location, and other identifying information were removed from the letters. Survey participants were asked to read each letter and categorize the applicant's gender and race as well as that of the letter writer. The letters were also subject to analysis by WordStat linguistic software.
A total of 35 pediatric otolaryngologists participated in the survey. Participants assigned gender of the applicant correctly in 43 % of letters and gender of the letter writer correctly in 53 % of letters. Race of the applicant was judged correctly in 65 % of letters. Participants indicated words such as caring, hard-working, and prepared led them to assume the applicant was female, which was corroborated by linguistic analysis. No such words were identified as predictive of race.
This pilot study suggests that while there are certain linguistic associations with gender among applications to pediatric otolaryngology fellowship, they may not impact biases held by the reader. This is relevant given a recent rise in the number of female applicants to this subspecialty and ongoing unfilled fellowship positions. Future studies are needed to determine if such associations exist and ultimately affect match potential and success within the field. These studies will require analysis of more letters and with more survey respondents, along with a higher in-depth linguistic analysis.
This pilot study aims to evaluate letters of recommendation for pediatric otolaryngology fellowship applications for gender bias with the goal of outlining future studies. There were certain words associated with a given gender, which could impact applicants' potential to match.
NA.
分析小儿耳鼻喉科住院医师培训推荐信的语言，以发现可能存在的性别和/或种族偏见。改进小儿耳鼻喉科住院医师培训推荐信中性别和语言研究的方法。
招募从事小儿耳鼻喉科的执业医师作为调查参与者。共筛选了 10 封推荐信，以代表同等数量的男性和女性申请人，以及同等数量的白人申请人和黑人、原住民或有色人种申请人。从信件中删除了姓名、代词、地点和其他识别信息。调查参与者被要求阅读每一封信，并将申请人的性别和种族以及信件作者的性别和种族进行分类。这些信件还接受了 WordStat 语言软件的分析。
共有 35 名小儿耳鼻喉科医师参与了调查。参与者正确判断申请人性别的信件占 43%，正确判断信件作者性别的信件占 53%。申请人种族被正确判断的信件占 65%。参与者表示，“关心”、“努力工作”和“准备充分”等词语使他们认为申请人是女性，这与语言分析结果相符。没有发现任何与种族相关的预测性词语。
这项初步研究表明，尽管小儿耳鼻喉科住院医师培训申请中存在某些与性别相关的语言关联，但它们可能不会影响读者的偏见。鉴于最近该专业的女性申请人数量增加以及未填补的住院医师职位数量增加，这一点很重要。未来的研究需要确定是否存在这种关联，以及它们最终是否会影响该领域的匹配潜力和成功。这些研究将需要分析更多的信件和更多的调查受访者，并进行更深入的语言分析。
这项初步研究旨在评估小儿耳鼻喉科住院医师培训推荐信，以发现其中的性别偏见，并为未来的研究提供指导。某些词语与特定性别相关联，这可能会影响申请人的匹配潜力。
无。
