Justification for asking sex question

Survey to Assess the Quality of Grant Review and Meeting Format Among NIH Center for Scientific Review (CSR) Reviewers (0925-0648)

Justification for asking sex of respondents

Gathering data on the sex of the respondent will help CSR assess potential barriers that women scientists sometimes face in their careers. Prior research has shown that travel and family responsibilities can prevent women from engaging in scholarly activities to a much higher degree then men. The zoom survey will shed light on this issue and help us understand whether women scientists will be more likely to become a reviewer and participate in a review meeting if they could attend a virtual Zoom meeting versus having to travel for an in-person review meeting. Also, women scientists, especially those young in their career may be more likely to speak up and voice their opinions in a virtual discussion where the environment may be perceived as safer and less intimidating—especially if their opinions challenge the opinions of male or more established reviewers. The zoom survey will help us to see if women scientists were more engaged in discussion at the Zoom review meeting compared to their normal in-person meetings.