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About Those Black Friends
In a 1998 survey, three different groups of white people were asked whether they had black friends
One group was asked, "Are any of your good friends that you feel close to Black?" When asked directly, 42% of white people said they has good friends who are black.
The next group was asked three consecutive questions. First they were asked, "Do you have any good friends that you feel close to?" If they answered yes, they were asked "About how many good friends do you have?" Finally, they were asked, "How many of your good friends are Black?" When asked with this three-step approach, 24% of white people answered that one or more of those close friends was black.
The last group was asked, "Many people have some good friends they feel close to. Who are your good friends (other than your spouse)? Just tell me their first names. Is there anyone else?" Information was taken on the first five people mentioned, including race. When investigating social networks, only 6% of white people listed at least one black person among their five closest friends.
In contrast, when black people were asked the same question about white friends, the responses were 62%, 45%, and 15% respectively.
While I was looking for this paper, I made this too:
One group was asked, "Are any of your good friends that you feel close to Black?" When asked directly, 42% of white people said they has good friends who are black.
The next group was asked three consecutive questions. First they were asked, "Do you have any good friends that you feel close to?" If they answered yes, they were asked "About how many good friends do you have?" Finally, they were asked, "How many of your good friends are Black?" When asked with this three-step approach, 24% of white people answered that one or more of those close friends was black.
The last group was asked, "Many people have some good friends they feel close to. Who are your good friends (other than your spouse)? Just tell me their first names. Is there anyone else?" Information was taken on the first five people mentioned, including race. When investigating social networks, only 6% of white people listed at least one black person among their five closest friends.
In contrast, when black people were asked the same question about white friends, the responses were 62%, 45%, and 15% respectively.
It is likely that reporting biases in the direct approach lead to an overreporting of inter-racial friends. First, cognitively this approach focuses on race as the key characteristic and people search their memories for someone of the specified race who meets (or might meet) the characteristic of being a friend. Second, since inter-racial friendship would be seen as an indication of a lack of prejudice, favorable self-presentation encourages the reporting of inter-racial friendships (Schuman, Steeh, and Bobo, 1985; Krysan, 1998). In particular, some may even infer that if they are "friendly" towards a group, then they must have friends in that group or, conversely, that the failure to report such friends would imply that they were not friendly towards the mentioned group. Finally, because most studies do not define what constitutes a "friend" and because the concept of "friend" is both imprecise and elastic, questions about friends are open to variable and expandable definitions. Together these factors mean that the one-step, race-focused approach will lead to inter-racial friendships being overreported since both cognitively and in terms of self-presentation people are striving to maximize mentions and there is much latitude in what constitutes a friend.—Tom W. Smith, "Measuring Inter-racial Friendships: Experimental Comparisons" [PDF]
While I was looking for this paper, I made this too:
no subject
Goes to repost!