Abstract
With the economics profession working to increase diversity, this study investigates gender differences in attitudes about the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis’ FREDcast® game used in teaching principles of macroeconomics. Student survey results show that females enjoy economics and the online game less than males. This evidence of a gender difference adds to the literature that might be helpful to instructors as they work to foster inclusiveness and develop learning activities that appeal to and engage diverse students.
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Notes
The survey was conducted by the Federal Bank of St. Louis which is not subject to ICMJE guidelines, the Declaration of Helsinki or The Belmont Report, and the requirement for consent was waived.
We thank two anonymous referees for the suggestion to examine the impacts of enjoyment of learning economics.
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Appendix: FREDcast Survey
Appendix: FREDcast Survey
Q1 What is your gender?
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Male
-
Female
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Non-binary
Q2 What classification are you in terms of credits earned in college?
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Freshman
-
Sophomore
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Junior
-
Senior
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Not sure
Q3 What is your race?
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American Indian or Alaska Native
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Asian
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Black or African American
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Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
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White
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A combination of some or all of the above choices
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Some other race
Q4 How much education did your MOTHER earn?
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Did not go to college
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Did go to college, but did not graduate
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Graduated college
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Earned a graduate degree
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I don't know
Q5 How much education did your FATHER earn?
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Did not go to college
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Did go to college, but did not graduate
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Graduated college
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Earned a graduate degree
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I don't know
Q6 What is your major?
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Economics
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Finance
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Business—but not economics or finance
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Undecided
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Education
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Liberal Arts (such as history, music, language, humanities, sociology, psychology, etc.)
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Science (including math, physics, chemistry, etc.)
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Other
Q7 Thinking about your overall GPA (grade point average), which value is it closest to if you round off?
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4.0
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3.0
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2.0
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Less than 2.0
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I don't know
Q8 Why did you play the FREDcast game? (Select all that apply.)
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It was required.
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It sounded fun.
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It seemed easy.
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My friends were playing it.
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I wanted to earn extra credit.
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The teacher made it seem fun.
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Other
Q9 Did you play the FREDcast game as part of a group?
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No.
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I was part of a group for discussing the game, but each person had an individual account and we each made individual forecasts.
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I was part of a group for discussing the game, and the team shared an account and made team forecasts and not individual forecasts.
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Other
Q10 Use the scale provided at the top of the table below to answer whether or not you agree with each of the statements. Check the box corresponding to your answer for each statement.
Strongly agree with statement | Agree with statement | Undecided | Disagree with statement | Strongly disagree with statement | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Studying economics is a waste of time. | |||||
Playing the FREDcast game was easy. | |||||
I enjoy learning economics. | |||||
It was easy to figure out how to enter my forecasts in the FREDcast game. | |||||
I enjoy playing the FREDcast game. | |||||
I was comfortable that my level of knowledge of macroeconomics was appropriate for playing the FREDcast game. |
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Harter, C., Mendez-Carbajo, D. Diving into the Gap: Recognizing Gender Differences in an Online Learning Activity. Eastern Econ J 50, 79–102 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41302-023-00258-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41302-023-00258-x