Privacy and the Expression of White Racial Attitudes: A Comparison across Three Contexts

In: Public opinion quarterly: journal of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, Band 62, Heft 4, S. 506-544

Abstract

Reports a tripartite survey-based experiment (total N = 1,796 respondents [Rs] in Detroit, MI, in 1994), comparing answers to racial attitude questions under three conditions of privacy: a standard survey condition, where interviewers asked all questions; a modified face-to-face condition, where Rs answered a subset of racial questions in a self-administered form; & a completely noninterviewer condition, where questionnaires were mailed to & returned by Rs. Three hypotheses are investigated: (1) White Rs will express less liberal racial attitudes as privacy increases. (2) Privacy effects are greatest for questions about the principles of racial equality & other traditional racial attitudes & least for questions about racial policies & symbolic racism. (3) Privacy effects are stronger among the highly educated, who are more aware of current norms & thus feel social desirability pressures with greater force. Results offer some support for the social desirability hypothesis, especially among more educated Rs. However, contrary to expectations, the effects occur more consistently for racial policies than traditional racial attitudes. Instead of treating privacy effects as "errors," in a simple sense, supplementary qualitative interview are drawn on to connect the survey results to the larger normative change in white racial attitudes. Other complicating factors, eg, acquiescent tendencies among less educated Rs, are also considered. 5 Tables, 2 Figures, 1 Appendix, 51 References. Adapted from the source document.