The effects of a female instructor's title on student perceptions of the instructor.

Abstract

This study is an investigation of the effects of a female instructor's title on student perceptions of the instructor. The traditional titles "Miss" and "Mrs.," the nontraditional title "Ms.," the professional title "Dr.," and the absence of title (first and last names only) were manipulated. The first hypothesis of this study was that the titles used would affect student ratings and that the title "Dr." would receive the most favorable ratings. A second hypothesis was that the sex of the participants would not have an effect on instructor ratings. The various titles were presented via a 10-second title screen at the beginning and end of a videotaped lecture given by a female instructor. Participants (N = 2I6) each viewed one videotaped copy of the lecture, although the title screen identifying the instructor was altered for each of the five tapes. After viewing the tape, participants completed a questionnaire consisting of a modified Bem Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI), five supplementary questions, and several demographic items. Mean scores were compiled by group, and two separate unweighted-means, split-plot factorial analyses of variance were conducted Both analyses used title condition ("Dr.," "Mrs.," "Ms.," "Miss,", and No Title) and sex (men and women) as the between-group variables. An analysis of the supplementary questions showed no significant main effects for title or sex and no significant interaction A significant main effect did exist for the supplementary questions, however; regardless of sex or title condition, students rated the instructor similarly. An analysis of scores from the masculinity and femininity subscales of the BSRI showed no significant main effects for title or sex and no significant interaction. A significant effect of BSRI category indicated that femininity scores were significantly higher than masculinity scores. In addition, a significant sex X BSRI interaction was found. Female participants rated the instructor significantly higher on the masculinity subscale than male participants did, but no differences between male and female ratings of the instructor were found on the femininity subscale. Both female and male participants rated the instructor significantly higher on the femininity subscale than on the masculinity subscale. Implications and recommendations for future research are presented.