The raters sat in front of a computer screen and on each trial had to decide by key press how
masculine or feminine a sample of handwriting looked on a scale of 1 (very masculine) to 5 (very
feminine). Altogether they were shown 120 samples of handwriting. The order of presentation was
random for each participant. Each participant made a response in their own time. Once a key was
pressed, the sample of handwriting would disappear. This was followed by the screen showing
information on the correct gender of the writer of the handwriting. After the experiment was over
they were asked ‘‘What characteristics did you use to decide if the handwriting was masculine or
feminine?’’