Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES) 2011 - Higher ...

PRES 2011 Results – September 2011
Figure 3.19: Importance of developing a range of research and transferable skills by discipline, Q9b and
Q9c
3.2.2.2 Gender
When looking at the Skills Development scale by gender, for most items there is no significant difference.
There are, however, a number of areas where the perceptions of men and women differ in notable ways.
In response to Q2a, male respondents expressed greater confidence about managing a research project,
with a % agree score 5.3% higher (72.0% for female versus 77.3% for male).
Female respondents attached a greater sense of importance to the development of transferable skills
(Q9c) with an importance score 10.1% higher (65.1% for male versus 75.2% for female) 29 . However, there
was no significant gender difference in positivity about available opportunities to develop transferable
skills (Q2f), or in expectations met or exceeded (Q15c). This suggests that, despite the apparently greater
importance placed on transferable skills by women, by and large they are equally as positive as male
respondents about the training on offer.
29 This difference is fairly consistent within each of the discipline groups, suggesting that the gender difference for
Q9c is not a direct feature of discipline differences combined with disproportionate numbers of men and women
within disciplines, as was the case with Q19, see Section 3.2.1.2.
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