"Diversity is Having the Diversity": Unpacking and Designing for Diversity in Applicant Selection

TL;DR

This paper explores the complex and varied notions of diversity in applicant selection, proposing a framework and decision support tools to better operationalize diversity in organizational decisions.

Contribution

It introduces the Diversity Triangle framework and demonstrates participatory design of decision support tools tailored to different diversity perspectives.

Findings

Diversity is understood in three main ways: perspectives, representativeness, and context.

Decision support tools need to be tailored to specific organizational definitions of diversity.

Working with organizations to clarify diversity concepts improves DST design.

Abstract

When selecting applicants for scholarships, universities, or jobs, practitioners often aim for a diverse cohort of qualified recipients. However, differing articulations, constructs, and notions of diversity prevents decision-makers from operationalising and progressing towards the diversity they all agree is needed. To understand this challenge of translation from values, to requirements, to decision support tools (DSTs), we conducted participatory design studies exploring professionals' varied perceptions of diversity and how to build for them. Our results suggest three definitions of diversity: bringing together different perspectives; ensuring representativeness of a base population; and contextualising applications, which we use to create the Diversity Triangle. We experience-prototyped DSTs reflecting each angle of the Diversity Triangle to enhance decision-making around diversity. We find that notions of diversity are highly diverse; efforts to design DSTs for diversity should start by working with organisations to distil 'diversity' into definitions and design requirements.