Gender Differences in Decision-Making Confidence - Essay Example

Additional Insight into Gender Differences in Decision-Making Confidence Table of Contents 3 Introduction 4 Methodology 6 Design of the research 6 Participants of the research 6 Procedure of the research 7 Results of the research 7 Discussion 9 References 12 Abstract This paper seeks to identify the differences in decision making portrayed by men and women. As scientific approach is used to explore these differences to ensure that the procedures of the research are correct and reliable. The research samples students from Worcester University as well as residents of Worcester, Worcestershire. The choice of the sampling frame is because the research is meant to represent a normal society without certain biases. The research uses the findings of other studies to formulate a hypothesis. A quasi-experiment design is used in the design of the research because of the randomness of this research. The discussion section of this paper explains the results of the findings and compares the results with those of other studies. Introduction Modern research studies have been interested on gender studies as people are interested in what makes them different in terms of gender. The interesting part of the differences that has attracted interest in the past years is the aspect of decision making differences portrayed by women and men. Recent studies have specifically focused on the confidence of decision making that is believed to be influenced by gender. Some previous researchers have identified that men demonstrate higher confidence in making their decisions as compared to women. The difference confidence is portrayed despite making right or wrong decisions by both women and men. Men and women often portray differences in decision-making confidences. Cognitive psychology emphasizes on the decision making processes and mostly errors associated making judgments. Previous studies indicate that individuals are more likely to overestimate their knowledge when given general tests. The overestimation of knowledge is irrespective of gender. However, the overconfidence of people in general tests is influenced by the type of test. Some tests can lower the confidence of the participant depending on the structure of questions or subject of the questions. Higher confidence is observed when the nature of the questions is representative. On the other hand, random questions lower the confidence of answering questions (Garon & Moore, 2007). Recognizing gender differences in terms of decision making is not only important on the way the two genders make decisions but also essential in the comprehensions of how information is processed. Understanding how information is processed by both males and females is vital in the development of ways to make both genders understand different information presented to them for instance, in education. Understanding the differences in gender information processing can also assist in understanding the people in the society and the decisions they make. At work places, the management can use the information of the differences in decision making to help in the decision making processes. The results of the past researchers have identified these differences. However, the information is still in contention because of the rejection by some members of the society who do not support any information on the differences in gender decision making. Deeper knowledge on the differences can help iron out the different points of view on the differences in decision making portrayed by men and women. Moreover, the information concerning differences in decision making by men and women can make workplaces better as well as a better society at large (Garon & Moore, 2007). Based on the credibility of other studies, this research predicted similar. The research was focused on using strategic methods of scientific research so that the results are not limited or biased. The study was conducted o university students who are considered to be sure of what they do and are supportive of the research. To balance the sample chosen for the research, the residents of the area around the university were also included in the sampling process. The choice of these participants was meant to represent a normal society with diversity in terms of gender and nationality (Blais &Weber, 2001). This paper explores the gender differences in decision-making through a scientific research. It seeks to get the essence of previous studies that have indicated that men show greater overconfidence while making decisions. Recent studies have indicated that men are likely to be overconfident while making decisions about confidence resolution (Wing, Benner, Petersen, Newcomb & Scott, 2010). From the previous studies and literature reviews, it can be hypothesized that males as opposed to females are more likely to show a greater overconfidence bias when performing a decision making task. Methodology Design of the Research The research was designed using quasi-experiment design because the experiment lacks the random assignment. Since the experiment was about gender differences in decision making confidence, the participants were be split into two groups representing both genders. The independent variable of this research included the gender of the participants; male and female. The research used two dependent variables. The first dependent variable (DV1) was the scores of the general tests of both male and female participants. The second dependent variable (DV2) was the results of self-evaluation of the confidence of the female and male participants (Koriat, 2012). The Participants of the Research Opportunity sampling method was used to recruit the participants. The participants were students of Worcester University and residents of Worcester, Worcestershire. The choice of the University and the area was meant to include diversity in terms of nationalities. To avoid affecting or influencing the confidence of decision making, there were no rewards for participating in the research; either financial or participation credits. The avoidance of rewards was based on the fact that rewards can influence the confidence of the participants by changing their ambitions. The recruitment of the participants also considered ethical requirements of the research. The participants were not compelled in any way to participate in the research. The participants were required to be above the age of 18 years and ready to sign an informed consent form. The research was not deceptive and did not have any potential physiological or psychological harm on the participants. For the purposes of obtaining balanced results, there were equal numbers of both male and female participants in the experiment (Koriat, 2012). Procedure of the Research Before the commencement of this study, the researcher had arranged all the research material in the research room. The materials included the writing materials for the research and the informed consent form. The researcher then welcomed the participants into the research room. The participants were issued with the informed consent forms of which they were required to read and sign. The informed consent forms were collected by the researcher after they were signed by the participants (Blais &Weber, 2001). Thereafter, the experiment began with issuance of the general knowledge test to the participants. The test included 40 questions with two answers each. The forty questions were primarily focused on decision making. Each question had one correct answer. In addition to choosing the correct answer, the participants were also required to rate their confidence on the given scale. After completion of the general knowledge test, the researcher thanked the participants and debriefed them on the research (Wing, Benner, Petersen, Newcomb & Scott, 2010). Results of the Research Testing for Normality Using Shapiro-Wilk Test A Shapiro-Wilk test was conducted to determine the normal distribution of research result. The test was conducted before a t-test of the results was done. From the Shapiro-Wilk test, p-value = .0518 > .05 = α. Therefore, our conclusion is 95% confidence that the data is normally distributed. The test gives us the confidence to go to the next step of performing a t-test of the results (Salkind & Rasmussen, 2007). Paired Sample T-Test The hypothesis of this research stated that; that males unlike females are more likely to show a greater overconfidence bias when performing a decision making task. This is the case as consistently supported by the results. T-tests were conducted on these paired groups to compare the significances of the results with the suggested hypothesis. The tests were meant to prove the hypotheses right or wrong. The results showed that despite having a lower average in accuracy, male participants had a relatively higher overconfidence as compared to the female participants. The results of the t-tests proved the hypothesis right as explained in this section Consistent with the present study’s hypothesis, the male participants had significantly higher depression scores than the female participants, t (15) = 2.144786688, p < 0.05. Moreover, the difference in passivity scores for the accuracy of the two sets of gender was significant in terms of choosing the correct answers. Females had a better score in accuracy of their results. There was also consistency with the present study’s hypothesis, the female participants had significantly lower depression scores than the male participants, t (15) = 2.144787, p > 0.05. This shows that male participants performed better than female participants in terms of confidence of their results. It was a confirmation that the hypothesis of the research was true (Salkind & Rasmussen, 2007). Therefore, results of the performed t-tests are consistent with the chosen hypothesis. The table illustrated below shows an extract of the t-test.   Male Participants Female Participants Mean 74.43333 79.28333 Variance 112.1917 99.90952 Observations 15 15 Pearson Correlation -0.4154 Hypothesized Mean Difference 0 Df 14 t Stat -1.08438 P(T Read More