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ABOUT BIASES AND PROCEDURAL ISSUES
Issues that commonly arise during Promotion & Tenure review fall
into two general categories: BIAS and PROCEDURAL. Learning about the
differences between these two categories will help in identifying the
particular issue.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary on-line defines BIAS as follows:
3 a : BENT, TENDENCY b : an inclination of temperament or outlook;
especially : a personal and sometimes unreasoned judgment : PREJUDICE c
: an instance of such prejudiced (1) : deviation of the expected value
of a statistical estimate from the quantity it estimates (2) :
systematic error introduced into sampling or testing by selecting or
encouraging one outcome or answer over others
synonyms PREDILECTION, PREPOSSESSION, PREJUDICE, BIAS mean an attitude
of mind that predisposes one to favor something. PREDILECTION implies a
strong liking deriving from one's temperament or experience (a
predilection for horror movies). PREPOSSESSION suggests a fixed
conception likely to preclude objective judgment of anything counter to
it (a prepossession against technology). PREJUDICE usually implies an
unfavorable prepossession and connotes a feeling rooted in suspicion,
fear, or intolerance (a mindless prejudice against the unfamiliar).
BIAS implies an unreasoned and unfair distortion of judgment in favor
of or against a person or thing (the common bias against overweight
people).
This tool will adopt the definition above that ìbias implies an
unreasoned and unfair distortion of judgment in favor of or against a
person or thing.î
On this basis, reasoned policies or actions based on open faculty
deliberations that entertain diversity of views, or consistently
derived, explained, publicized and applied institutional objectives
are not biased because they represent reasoned, fairly judged,
corporate responses. However, it is recognized that some individuals
may not agree with such reasoned policies or actions because they may
not coincide with their own closely held personal views.
Bias involves unreasoned judgments or actions that reflect preferences
or predilections, typically held by individuals and expressed either in
overt or subtle ways. This is the definition of bias that is of most
concern in mentoring, P&T deliberations and career development.
Common forms of bias include, but are not limited to, unreasoned preferences related to:
- gender
- race
- ethnicity
- age
- disability
- religious affiliation/preference
- engaging in interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary research
- teaming versus independent investigation
- forums for publishing and presentation
- utility and expectations of mentoring processes
- engaging in entrepreneurial activities
- design and synthesis oriented research
- method of selecting mentors and means of guidance
- assignment of graduate students
- allocation of financial and equipment resources
- committee or service assignments
- selecting review committees
- selecting references and dealing with input from references
A significant objective of this tool is to assist in identifying
unreasoned and unfair distortion of judgment (i.e., bias) that might
affect faculty development and case deliberations in P&T processes,
how to guard against expressing it, and how to respond appropriately to
it when manifested.
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary online defines the adjective PROCEDURAL as follows:
of or relating to procedure; especially : of or relating to the
procedure used by courts or other bodies administering substantive law.
This tool will adopt the definition that procedural issues are
those that relate to policies and procedures that are listed in
Institute, College and Unit guidelines or in the Georgia Tech faculty
handbook, with the understanding that Unit policies/procedures must be
consistent with College policies/procedures, which in turn must be
consistent with Institute level policies/procedures.
We will also assume that issues that relate to best practices guidelines are of procedural type.
An objective of this tool is to assist in identifying and
understanding procedural issues for purposes of P&T evaluations,
and to make available resources and information regarding such issues.
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