Table 2.
Content of recommendation letter as a function of gender and academic department.
| Parameters | Chemistry
|
Biochemistry
|
Total
|
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Men n=164 | Women n=21 | Total n=185 | Men n=71 | Women n=21 | Total n=92 | Men n=235 | Women n=42 | |
| Number of letters | 3.29
(.10) |
3.81
(1.33) |
3.35
(1.05) |
2.86
(1.05) |
2.95
(1.16) |
2.28
(1.07) |
3.16
(1.03) |
3.38
(1.31) |
| Length of letters
(in words) |
531
(194) |
596
(136) |
539
(190) |
611
(213) |
579
(178) |
604
(205) |
555
(203) |
588
(157) |
| Achievement | 2.12
(.57) |
2.22
(.65) |
2.13
(.58) |
2.05
(.61) |
2.14
(.52) |
2.07
(.59) |
2.10
(.58) |
2.18
(.58) |
| Communication | .94
(.40) |
1.04
(.39) |
.95
(.40) |
1.09
(.42) |
1.23
(.46) |
1.12
(.43) |
.98
(.41) |
1.13
(.44) |
| Positive feelings | .34
(.18) |
.33
(.16) |
.34
(.18) |
.27
(.14) |
.29
(.19) |
.28
(.15) |
.32
(.17) |
.31
(.17) |
| Negative feelings | .31
(.21) |
.33
(.15) |
.31
(.20) |
.41
(.31) |
.41
(.25) |
.41
(.29) |
.34
(.24) |
.37
(.21) |
| Tentative words | .72
(.29) |
.78
(.38) |
.73
(.30) |
.76
(.35) |
.68
(.27) |
.74
(.33) |
.73
(.31) |
.73
(.33) |
| Certainty words | 1.08
(.39) |
1.06
(.33) |
1.08
(.38) |
1.11
(.48) |
1.07
(.39) |
1.10
(.46) |
1.09
(.42) |
1.06
(.35) |
| Standout words | .70
(.30) |
.57
(.28) |
.68
(.30) |
.71
(.36) |
.63
(.26) |
.69
(.34) |
.70
(.32) |
.60
(.27) |
| Ability words | .76
(.35) |
.73
(.31) |
.76
(.34) |
.78
(.36) |
.84
(.29) |
.79
(.34) |
.76
(.35) |
.78
(.30) |
| Grindstone words | .43
(.25) |
.48
(.34) |
.44
(.26) |
.39
(.21) |
.39
(.19) |
.39
(.20) |
.42
(.24) |
.44
(.28) |
| Teaching words | 1.31
(.93) |
1.29
(.71) |
1.31
(.90) |
.97
(.53) |
1.08
(.53) |
1.00
(.53) |
1.21
(.84) |
1.20
(.64) |
| Research words | 2.86
(.86) |
2.76
(.74) |
2.84
(.85) |
2.85
(.75) |
2.90
(.87) |
2.86
(.78) |
2.85
(.83) |
2.82
(.80) |
Numbers reflect the mean percentage of words from the recommendation letter that fall within a given category. SDs are represented in parentheses below the means.