FAQ
Who is Joan McKay?
Joan McKay is a fictional author used in the survey by Paludi & Bauer
entitled "Goldberg Revisited: What's in an author's name?"
(Sex Roles, 9, 387, 390). This survey is discussed in an article by
Meg Urry in the January 2003 edition of
STATUS.
In this survey, 360 referees, half men and
half women, each were sent an identical mathematics paper to rate on a scale of
1 to 5 (1=excellent). The author's name on each paper was
replaced with either John T. McKay, Joan T. McKay, or J. T. McKay.
The reviewers (both male and female) rated the man's paper of a higher
standard than woman's paper (shown below).
|
| John T. McKay | Joan T. McKay | J. T. McKay |
| Men | 1.9 | 3.0 | 2.7 |
| Women | 2.3 | 3.0 | 2.6 |
Table showing reviewer's response to identical paper
with author's name replaced by a
male, female, or initials. Scale
was 1-5 with 1 being excellent, 5 being poor.
