Seeing the Research, Not the Researcher: The Effect of Research Literacy Training on Evaluations of Research Credibility

How does (perceived) author’s gender affect students’ evaluation of the credibility of research related to public administration? We conducted a two-round survey experiment, testing if students’ assessment of public administration/political science research rigor is influenced by author’s gender, the controversiality of the argument, and the presence of academic research methods before and after long-term research literacy training. The findings reveal that prior to research literacy training, students’ perceptions of research rigor was shaped by the controversial nature of the research and author’s gender. However, after long-term research literacy training, students became more reliant on methodological cues to assess research credibility. This shift suggests that deliberate pedagogical strategies can help students align their evaluations with core values of fairness, analytical rigor, and respect for diversity. Further, as restrictions are being placed on DEI initiatives, these findings illustrate that there are neutral strategies that still achieve important DEI outcomes.