Does the Salary of Professors Differ by Gender - Research Proposal Example

Name: Course name: Tutor: Date: Does the Salary of Professors Differ by Gender? Introduction In academic institutions of higher learning the salary payable to the teaching staff differs from institution to another. Several researches indicate that salary of academic staff is a significant motivating factor for the staff. In addition, some researches established that the amount of salary paid to staff is critical in retaining the productive members of staff in the organization. Typically, employees tend to be lured to organizations which offer them better pay. The major factors that are believed to determine the salary of employees in higher institutions of learning include: rank, discipline, and years of service. In most institutions, professors are the highly paid academic staff members. However, the rank of professorship also determines the salary of payable to the academic staff. Therefore, professors are likely to have higher salaries than associate professors in most academic institutions. Furthermore, there have been general perceptions that gender determines the salary of the academic staff. Generally, male employees in different organizations including academic institutions are believed to earn more compared to their female counterpart. In addition, employees who have served in the institution for a longer period of time tend to the have higher salaries compared to employees with the same rank but served for a shorter time period. However, this is not necessary the case in several academic institutions. This study seeks to establish the relationship between the salary of professors and factors that are believed to determine their salary. The sample data relates to assistant professors, associate professors and professors in a U.S college. Aims and objectives This study’s aims and objectives include; To investigate whether salary differ by gender To establish whether years since PhD differ by gender To investigate whether years of service differ by gender To determine the relationship between rank, discipline, gender, years since PhD, years of service, and salary The formulated hypotheses to be evaluated in this study are as follows; Hypothesis 1 H0: Salary of professors do not differs by gender H1: Salary of professors differs by gender Hypothesis 2 H0: Years since PhD do not differ by gender H1: Years since PhD differ by gender Hypothesis 3 H0: Years of service of professors do not differ by gender H1: Years of service of professors differ by gender Hypothesis 4 H0: There is no relationship between rank, discipline, gender, years since PhD, years of service, and salary H1: There is a relationship between rank, discipline, gender, years since PhD, years of service, and salary Method The sample data comprised of 397 respondents. These respondents included the assistant professors, associate professors and professors of a college in the U.S. Some of the variables included in the sample data were categorical, while others were continuous variables. Categorical data include rank (assistant professor, associate professor and professor), discipline (theoretical department and applied department) and sex (male and female). The continuous variables included: salary, years since PhD and years of service. Quantitative research techniques were used to evaluate the hypotheses formulated for the study. Pearson correlation was used to assess the nature and degree of relationship between continuous variables. The t-test was used to evaluate the difference in means, while the chi-square test was used to measure the association between the rank and discipline with by gender. Subsequently, the multiple regression analysis was used to establish a regression model with salary as the dependent variable. The established regression model was used to assess the relationship between salary and the other independent variables included in the model. Data analysis The descriptive and frequency statistics of the sample data are as indicated in the following tables. Table 1: Descriptive statistics and correlation Mean Standard Deviation Years since PhD 22.31 12.89 Years of service 17.61 13.01 Salary 113,706.50 30289.04 Table 2: Frequencies Female Male A – Theoretical department 18 163 B – Applied department 21 195 Total 39 358 Table 3: Frequencies Female Male Assistant professor 11 56 Associate professor 10 54 Professor 18 248 Total 39 358 Table 4: Frequencies A – Theoretical Department B – Applied Department Assistant professor 24 43 Associate professor 26 38 Professor 131 135 Total 181 216 As indicated in table 2 and 3, out of the 397 respondents sampled, 358 were male, while female were 39. The number of male and female professors based on ranks is also indicated in table 3. The average nine-month salary for the assistant professors, associate professors and professors sampled is $113,706.50. The average years since the differently ranked professors finished their PhD is 17.61, while the average years of service for the respondents sampled is 22.31. Furthermore, as indicated in table 4, the number of assistant professors, associate professors and professors in applied department is more than that in the theoretical department. In this study, the 1.5 IQR rule was used to identify and subsequently remove the outliers present in the data set. Table 5 below consists of the summary of the continuous variables (Salary, years in service and years since PhD) based on the quartiles. Therefore, the outliers in the data set included values less than (Q1-1.5 IQR) and those values greater than (Q3+1.5 IQR). Table 5: Summary statistics Salary Years of service Years since PhD Minimum 57800 0 1 Q1 91000 7 12 median 107300 16 21 Q3 134185 27 32 Maximum 231545 60 56 Inter-quartile range 43185 20 20 1.5 IQR 64,777.50 30 30 Therefore, for salary the outliers included values greater than $198,962.50 or less than $26,222.50. The outliers for years of service included values greater than 57 years, while for years since PhD the outliers included values greater than 62 years. Table 6: t-Test results (Mean difference) Sex t df P-value Female Male Salary $101,002.40 (25,952.13) $115,090.40 (30,436.93) -3.16 50.12 p < 0.01 Years since PhD 16.51 (9.78) 22.95 (13.04) -3.76 53.91 p < 0.001 Years of service 11.56 (8.81) 18.27 (13.23) -4.26 58.56 p < 0.001 Note: The figures in parentheses are the standard deviations The average salary of the male professors is $115,090.40, which is higher than the $101,002.40 average salary for the female professors sampled. The independent t-test also established that the difference between the average salary of male and female professors is significant. In addition, the years since PhD, differs significantly based on gender. The male assistant professors, associate professors and professors have a higher average of years since they completed their PhD compared to the female assistant professors, associate professors and professors. Furthermore, the male professors included in the sample have on average served for a longer period compared to their female counterparts. As indicated in table 6, the average years of service differs significantly between the male and female professors. The box plots of the salary, years since PhD and years of service by gender are as indicated below; Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 The normal quantile plots for salary, years of service and years since PhD are as indicated in the following diagram. Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 As indicate in figure 4, 5 and 6, the normal quantile plots for salary, years of service and years since PhD are relatively straight. This indicates that salary, years of service and years since PhD is approximately normally distributed. Correlation and regression analysis The correlation matrix indicating the Pearson’s correlation coefficient between the quantitative variables; salary, years of service and years since PhD, is as follows; Table 7: Correlation matrix Years since PhD Years of service Salary Years since PhD 1.0000 0.9096 0.4192 Years with service 1.0000 0.3347 Salary 1.0000 As indicated table 7, years of service and years since PhD are very highly positively correlated. However, the correlation between salary and each of the two variables; years since PhD and years of service is also positive and appear to be significant. Figure 7 The scatter plots of salary against years of service and years since PhD are indicated in figure 7 and figure 8. Figure 8 Regression analysis Multiple regression analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between rank, discipline, gender, years since PhD, years of service, and salary. The regression analysis, revealed a significant relationship between salary and rank. As indicated in the summary regression results in table 8, the regression coefficient for professor is positive and higher than that of associate professor. To analyze the relationship between rank and salary, the rank of assistant professor was used as the reference. Salary is also significantly related with discipline. The theoretical department was used as the reference category to analyze the relationship between salary and discipline. Years since PhD and years in service are significantly related with salary as indicated in table 8. However, the regression analysis established that the relationship between gender and salary for the academic staff sampled are not significant. Table 8: Multiple regression Dependent variable: Salary Estimates t value Intercept 65955.2*** (4588.6) 14.374 Associate professor 12907.6** (4145.3) 3.114 Professor 45066.0*** (4237.5) 10.635 Applied department 14417.6*** (2342.9) 6.154 Years since PhD 535.1* (241.0) 2.220 Years in service -489.5* (211.9) -2.310 Male 4783.5 (3858.7) 1.240 Observations 397 R2 0.4547 Adjusted R2 0.4463 Residual std. error 22540 (df = 390) F statistic 54.2 (df = 6; 390) Note: ***p Read More