Humanizing D&I Research

Paolo Gaudiano

While the discrimination and prejudice often manifest themselves as negative experiences for individuals, much of the research and analysis about Diversity & Inclusion focuses on statistical data about macroscopic phenomena, hiding critical details and downplaying or negating the individual experiences. This talk introduces a methodology that combines behavioral science and computer science to develop intuitive, game-like computer simulations that make it possible to understand at the same time the experiences of individuals and the observed macroscopic phenomena. We focus on a specific example, using a simulation to demonstrate that the reduced representation of a given population at increasing levels of an organization can only be explained by the presence of biases. Furthermore, the simulation shows that the reduced representation must be accompanied by a higher average level of talent. In other words, the simulation proves that Black women, who are severely underrepresented in leadership, must be quantitatively more talented than their peers.