Invitation to Participate in a Survey

Posted On: 04/20/2023

Dear colleague,

We are writing to you today to ask for your participation in a short survey and Implicit Association Test (IAT). It will take about 10-15 minutes total to complete. As part of a study that will examine the presence of implicit biases concerning gender, science, and labor in archaeology, this survey seeks to collect basic data about the study participants and examine the degree of implicit bias that persists among individuals who identify themselves as having a connection to archaeology. In particular, this project aims to test the association of male and female status characteristics with certain types of archaeological labor using an IAT approach. Aligned with this is a test to determine whether “field”-oriented labor and “lab”-oriented labor are perceived to have positive or negative connotations. We also intend to explore whether archaeologists tend to make systematic positive or negative associations with scientific and humanistic approaches. Through these studies, we seek to understand the devaluing of female labor and participation in the field and individual practitioners’ perceptions of gender and epistemological differences in the discipline.


Please feel free to contact us by email if you have any questions regarding this research project. We are happy to answer any questions and supply additional information. This study has been reviewed by the IRB board at Harvard University. Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter.
 
Sincerely,
Jess Beck (jess.beck@ucd.ie)
Laura Heath-Stout (lheathstout@brandeis.edu)