Website gender perceptions: effects and recommendations for gender inclusivity

This paper examines the interactions of design elements and perceptions of a website’s gender as well as the effects of perceived gender on aspects of user experience. Designing for a particular gender is common in both product and web design, but in many situations is exclusionary. While imparting gender onto a product is often intentional, gender bias in websites largely is not. The unintentional gender bias in websites is created through a combination of internalized biases, biased tools, and culture. This work lays the foundation for understanding how websites become gendered as well as the effects of gendering on users’ perceptions of websites through two studies. The first study examines the masculinity and femininity of the web design elements Font, Color, Shape, Texture, Image, and Mixed Elements. Some element examples were found to be strongly feminine or masculine, while others were neutral. A strong positive correlation between masculinity and professionalism was also observed for three of the elements. The second study applied the results of the first study to a web design task through the creation of feminine, gender neutral, and masculine websites. The results showed that websites were perceived as having a gender and that the perceived gender of the websites effected the website’s professionalism, workload, usability, likability and visual appeal. Neutral websites were preferred and found to be the most professional, usable, likable, and visually appealing. In contrast, feminine websites were the least usable, least professional, and the least visually appealing. There was a strong positive correlation between masculinity and professionalism but a strong negative correlation between femininity and professionalism. Similar correlations were observed for usability, likability, and visual appeal. Together, these two studies inform considerations and recommendations for the design of gender inclusive websites

Gathering requirements for the development of an online RAT tool

This work documents the requirements gathering process for the design of a Readiness Assurance Test (RAT) tool to be used in online Team Based Learning (TBL) classrooms. Gathering requirements is the first step in the User-Centered Design (UCD) process. After gathering requirements for the tool, a preliminary design would be created, implemented, and evaluated. The process would then start again with requirements gathering for the next design iteration. Team Based Learning has been shown to provide positive learning outcomes in face to face classrooms. Because of these positive outcomes, there has been interest in using the technique in online environments. This study determines student and faculty attitudes toward TBL and RATs (in current face-to-face classrooms and potential online classrooms), challenges associated with the RATs (both in face to face and potential online environments), and features needed by both faculty and students in an online RAT tool. This investigation was composed of three parts: student surveys, faculty surveys, and faculty interviews

Inclusive Decision Making: Applying Human Factors Methods to Capture the Needs and Voices of Marginalized Populations

In the face of large-scale climate change and growing populations, urban leaders must make strategic decisions about how to adapt their city and its neighborhoods to changing climate conditions. These decisions are particularly critical in low-resource neighborhoods where many residents face marginalization, and are often the most vulnerable to climate events (e.g., extreme heat) (Bolin & Kurtz, 2018). Despite higher vulnerability, individuals in these neighborhoods have historically been the least involved in community-level decision-making (Lasker & Guidry, 2009). Additionally, the unique needs of these residents are often overlooked when preparing information and resources for public dissemination

Energy Use and Weatherization Practices: Applications for Agent-Based Modeling to Support Vulnerable Populations

This work surveyed residents of an economically disadvantaged community on their attitudes toward weatherization and their energy use behaviors. To support urban leaders making decisions to mitigate the effects of large-scale climate change, data-driven simulation models are being developed. To ensure that these models are equitable, the needs of all citizens must be included, especially those most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The results of this survey indicate that residents are taking steps to weatherize and conserve energy, but they are hindered by a lack of resources and knowledge of available assistance programs. These results are being applied to agent-based models (ABM) to model emergent community behavior. These models will be used to design decision support systems for city stakeholders

Website gender perceptions: effects and recommendations for gender inclusivity

This paper examines the interactions of design elements and perceptions of a website’s gender as well as the effects of perceived gender on aspects of user experience. Designing for a particular gender is common in both product and web design, but in many situations is exclusionary. While imparting gender onto a product is often intentional, gender bias in websites largely is not. The unintentional gender bias in websites is created through a combination of internalized biases, biased tools, and culture. This work lays the foundation for understanding how websites become gendered as well as the effects of gendering on users’ perceptions of websites through two studies. The first study examines the masculinity and femininity of the web design elements Font, Color, Shape, Texture, Image, and Mixed Elements. Some element examples were found to be strongly feminine or masculine, while others were neutral. A strong positive correlation between masculinity and professionalism was also observed for three of the elements. The second study applied the results of the first study to a web design task through the creation of feminine, gender neutral, and masculine websites. The results showed that websites were perceived as having a gender and that the perceived gender of the websites effected the website’s professionalism, workload, usability, likability and visual appeal. Neutral websites were preferred and found to be the most professional, usable, likable, and visually appealing. In contrast, feminine websites were the least usable, least professional, and the least visually appealing. There was a strong positive correlation between masculinity and professionalism but a strong negative correlation between femininity and professionalism. Similar correlations were observed for usability, likability, and visual appeal. Together, these two studies inform considerations and recommendations for the design of gender inclusive websites.</p

An Evaluation to Determine if Reading the Mind in the Eyes Scores Can Be Improved Through Training

Can individuals be trained to perform better on the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET)

An Evaluation to Determine if Reading the Mind in the Eyes Scores Can Be Improved Through Training

Can individuals be trained to perform better on the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET)

Development and evaluation of training to increase student perceptions of fairness in peer assessment

The use of teams and team-centric pedagogies such as Team Based Learning (TBL) in classrooms has been shown to increase engagement and lead to better overall learning outcomes. Because of these positive outcomes, the use of teams is recommended in many educational fields, including engineering. For many instructors, especially those using teams, peer assessments are integral to the classroom environment as tools for both monitoring team performance and ensuring accountability. However, concerns have developed regarding the fairness of peer assessments due to student biases. In the literature, biased peer assessments have been found due to gender, race, language, peer group affiliation, socioeconomic status, and social style. However, there have not been studies that examine this issue from multiple perspectives (e.g. student, instructor, peer assessment scores) and across a wide range of academic disciplines. This work reports on such an examination as well as the development and evaluation of training to increase peer assessment fairness. In student and instructor surveys as well as an analysis of over 20,000 peer assessment ratings across multiple academic departments, evidence of bias was found. Students and instructors both perceived bias in their classrooms and peer assessments, commonly due to gender, race, age, language, and personality. Peer assessment data itself also indicated biases due to gender, language, international student status, and race, which were largely unexplained by differences in achievement (GPA). To address these biases, peer assessment fairness training was developed. This training was initially developed using the literature and results of previous studies. A formative classroom evaluation of the training showed that while trained students were more confident in their ability to rate fairly, perceptions of fairness were unaffected. To refine the training, further requirements for its design were gathered through focus groups. These requirements were implemented and the training underwent a summative classroom evaluation. The results of this evaluation indicated that students had higher perceptions of fairness in their peer assessments after receiving training. Students were also more confident in their and their peers’ fair rating skills after receiving training. These results indicate that the training could be used broadly in classrooms to increase peer assessment fairness

A Process for Evaluating the Gender and Professionalism of Web Design Elements

This work lays the foundation for creating gender neutral web design guidelines by determining the following: the gendering of web design element examples (including whether some examples are distinctly masculine or feminine), the perceived professionalism of design elements, and whether there is an interaction between gender and professionalism. Designing for a particular gender is common in both product and web design, but in many situations is exclusionary. In the study, participants rated a series of graphical element examples in six categories: Font, Color, Image, Shape, Texture and Mixed Elements. Participants rated each element on their femininity, masculinity and professionalism. Some element examples were found to be strongly feminine or masculine, while others were neutral. In three of the six elements (Color, Shape, Mixed Elements), there was a positive correlation between professionalism and masculinity. Similarly, in the same three elements, there was a negative correlation between professionalism and femininity. This information will aid designers in making principled decisions on how they wish the gender of their website to be perceived

A Process for Evaluating the Gender and Professionalism of Web Design Elements

This work lays the foundation for creating gender neutral web design guidelines by determining the following: the gendering of web design element examples (including whether some examples are distinctly masculine or feminine), the perceived professionalism of design elements, and whether there is an interaction between gender and professionalism. Designing for a particular gender is common in both product and web design, but in many situations is exclusionary. In the study, participants rated a series of graphical element examples in six categories: Font, Color, Image, Shape, Texture and Mixed Elements. Participants rated each element on their femininity, masculinity and professionalism. Some element examples were found to be strongly feminine or masculine, while others were neutral. In three of the six elements (Color, Shape, Mixed Elements), there was a positive correlation between professionalism and masculinity. Similarly, in the same three elements, there was a negative correlation between professionalism and femininity. This information will aid designers in making principled decisions on how they wish the gender of their website to be perceived.Copyright Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 2016. Posted with permission.</div