According to Moss-Racusin, “Successful interventions must reduce implicit and explicit biases in order to effectively boost diversity.” Acknowledging that diversity training programs can lead to backlash and failure to correct the problem, the scholars suggest interventions that incorporate “active learning techniques,” such as exercises, activities, and discussions, which “dynamically engage participants.”
Toward that end, they provide a framework that includes four specific design elements leading to three measurable outcomes. According to Moss-Racusin, this approach uses the “same standards for measuring outcomes that we have for science in our disciplines.”
The researchers recommend incorporating tested interventions into the responsible conduct of research (RCR) courses that are currently mandated by such federal funding agencies as the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.
Said Moss-Racusin, “RCR courses were instituted based on serious concerns about the fair treatment of human and animal research participants. The next logical step is to take the ethical and fair treatment of researchers themselves just as seriously, by adopting a scientific approach to ameliorating subtle biases that can undermine responsible research practices just as systematically as many of the topics already included in established RCR courses.”
C. A. Moss-Racusin, J. van der Toorn, J. F. Dovidio, V. L. Brescoll, M. J. Graham, J. Handelsman. Scientific Diversity Interventions. Science, 2014; 343 (6171): 615 DOI: 10.1126/science.1245936