Strategies for Improving Gender Diversity in the Methods Community: Insights from Political Methodologists and Social Science Research

Building Infrastructure to Enhance Diversity in Political Methodology

“…Especially in STEM-related fields, recruitment tends to favor white men (Moss- Racusin et al 2012). Thus, we intentionally recruit underrepresented students, rather than relying on student self-selection (Barnes 2018; Chaudhary and Berhe 2020). 1 A self-selected Data Lab participant pool would likely mirror existing patterns in political methodology and the undergraduate population more broadly.…”

Expanding Opportunities for Underrepresented Students in Political Methodology: The Data Lab @TAMUPOLS

“…One avenue is to make quantitative social science more accessible to underrepresented students. In evaluating the gender gap in STEM fields, scholars have shown that encouragement and information sharing on the benefits of acquired skills can boost women's interest and enrollment (Bayer and Rouse 2016;Barnes 2018). We also know that providing research opportunities increases retention of students of color and increases the likelihood they will pursue advanced STEM degrees (e.g., Nagda et al 1998;Russell et al 2007).…”

Selecting in or Selecting Out? Gender Gaps and Political Methodology in Europe

“…Instead of remediating gender gaps in knowledge, however, doctoral programs seem to reinforce and perpetuate them. "Impostor syndrome" (Barnes 2018;Shannon 2014), discouragement (Morrow-Jones and Box-Steffensmeier 2014), and the perception of such environments as male dominated and competitive (Shannon 2014) are frequently cited as reasons for pushing women away from quantitative and computational methods. Gender identification thereby intersects with other factors, such as race and sexuality (Gutierrez y Muhs et al 2012;Puwar 2004).…”

“…Gender identification thereby intersects with other factors, such as race and sexuality (Gutierrez y Muhs et al 2012;Puwar 2004). 1 However, as evidenced by established mentoring programs-such as the US-based Visions in Methodology Conference, the CeMENT program of the American Economic Association, and the Journeys in World Politics Workshop at the University of Iowawomen-only environments that provide training, networking, mentorship, and access to role models have proven to be promising initiatives in tackling the gender gap in the discipline (Barnes 2018;Barnes, Beaulieu, and Krupnikov 2014;Blau et al 2010; Barnes and Beaulieu 2017;Dion 2014). Our experience hosting the Zurich Summer School for Women in Political Methodology since 2017 provides further support for this.…”

“…This underrepresentation is particularly pronounced in the subfield of political methodology. Women constitute less than 20% of participants at the Society of Political Methodology (POLMETH) annual meeting (Barnes 2018), and they are less likely to publish studies using quantitative and computational methods (Teele and Thelen 2017) and to be lecturers in quantitative-methods modules (Barnes 2018). In other words, if “political methodologists” can be understood as those who participate in the community (Esarey 2018) and have methods-centered teaching and research interests (Leeper 2018), then women are substantially underrepresented in this category.…”