In a regression study of factors affecting learning time for a certain task (measured in minutes), gender of learner was included as a predictor variable (x2) that was coded x2 = 1 if male and 0 if female. it was found that î²ë 2 = 22.3 and s(î²ë 2) = 3.8.

an observer questioned whether the coding scheme for gender is fair because it results in a positive coefficient, leading to longer learning times for males than females?