Analysis
Abstract
Human attitudes towards people from different ethnic groups is one of the subjects that has been of interest to sociologists. Sociologists have studied the subject for a long time on various aspects. This study seeks to explore the impact of a person’s ethnicity on their attitudes towards persons of various ethnic groups. Specifically the study answered two key questions. Firstly, whether people have implicit negative attitudes towards certain races. Secondly, whether there is any interaction between people ethnicity and their attitudes towards specific races. The study used a single sample t-test and one-way ANOVA to answer the questions of interest. The study reveals that people show negative attitudes towards certain ethnic groups. These attitudes tend to targeted towards whites. The study further reveals that a person’s ethnicity does play a role in how people perceive other people based on their ethnicity. The study has one key shortcoming that may have influenced the findings. The sample was overrepresented by female compared to male. Similarly, whites formed almost half of the sample with the rest being shared by the other ethnic groups. There is a need for further research to assess the reasons underlying the observed attitudes towards people from different ethnic groups.
Descriptive Statistics
The first question that this study seeks to answer is whether people have implicit negative attitudes towards certain races.
It can be observed that most of the preferences are centered at 3(I equally like black and white men). However, we still have respondents who selected scores above or below 3.
A one sample t-test is appropriate in answering the question. If people do not have implicit negative attitudes towards certain races then the average score should be 3 (I equally like black and white men). However, if they have an implicit negative attitude towards blacks, the average score would be below 3. Similarly, if they have an implicit negative attitude towards whites, the average score would be above 3.
H0: Observed Preference Mean = 3
Ha: Observed Preference Mean ≠ 3
The observed preference mean is 3.12 which is slightly higher than 3.The observed preference mean is statistically different from the expected (3.0) at 5 percent significance level (.003 < 0.05). We reject the null hypothesis. At 5% CI, we conclude that the implicit negative attitudes towards certain races. Since the mean score was above 3, people have implicit negative attitudes towards whites
The second research Question was whether there is any interaction between people ethnicity and their attitudes towards specific races.
The question was analyzed using one way ANOVA.
H0: There are no differences in the attitudes of towards specific races by different ethnic groups.
Ha: There are differences in the attitudes of towards specific races by different ethnic groups.
The variances are homogenous. Hispanics reported the lowest mean while whites reported the highest mean with the other ethnic groups in between. The differences between groups are statistically significant at (.000 < 0.05). We reject the null hypothesis. At 5% CI, we can conclude that there are differences in the attitudes of towards specific races by different ethnic groups.
Discussion
The mean participants age was 23.98 years with the youngest participant being 15 years and the oldest being 65 years. 85 (28.5%) participants were male and 213 (71.5%) were female. The gender distribution was skewed for female participants. Whites form 47 percent of the sample (140 participants). The rest were distributed as follows: blacks 36 (12.1%), Asians 42 (14.1%), Hispanic 46 (15.4%) and Indian-American 34 (11.4%). The sample is overly represented by whites. Since the study sought to study ethnic relations, this fact may have influenced the findings that were observed. However, the influence would be more pronounced on the first question since it does not consider the various ethnic groups. The second question intends to provide a group by group comparison for attitudes towards people of various ethnic groups.
The findings of the study are intriguing. Some of the findings are contradict expectations. Firstly, the study reveals that people have negative attitudes towards certain races. A single-sample t-test was used to analyses the question. It was assumed that the study participants were randomly selected and that the data assumed a normal distribution. The single-sample t-test shows that there exist statistically significant differences between observed attitudes and the expected values if no bias exists. The study further shows that the negative attitudes are targeted at Caucasians in general. This is contrary to expectations. Based on history and political debates, it is often argued that blacks are marginalized, and they are subjected to negative stereotypes. This study can only speculate on the reasons for the observed behaviour. The ethnic distribution of the sample may have had an influence on the findings. The sample comprised of more white people than any other ethnic group. Therefore, the choices made by the whites would be dominant if they were consistent. There is a need for further research to assess the reasons explaining the behaviour. The study also included only two races: blacks and white. It would be interesting to assess the how the dynamics change when other ethnic groups are introduced as part of the preference scale.
The second question that this study sought to answer was whether there is any interaction between people ethnicity and their attitudes towards specific races. In other words, whether a person’s ethnicity influenced their attitudes towards other people based on their race. The study used one way ANOVA to analyses the question. All the assumptions for one way ANOVA were met. The dependent variable was continuous, the observations were independent, there were no outliers, and the variances were homogenous. Homogeneity was tested using the Levene statistic. The study reveals that ethnicity does play a role in how people perceive other people based on their ethnicity. Hispanics reported the lowest warmth score. This implies that they are they do not have negative attitudes towards either whites or blacks. Asians reported the highest warmth score. This implies that Asians are the most ethnic biased people, and they are most likely to show negative attitudes towards black people. Further research to explain the behaviour of Hispanics and Asians is necessary. It is interesting that the warmth score by blacks was equally positive. This implies that blacks show negative attitudes towards their fellow blacks. It would be interesting to assess the reasons as to why blacks show negative attitudes towards other black people.
Conclusion
This study seeks to assess people attitudes towards race. The study reveals that people have negative attitudes towards certain races. The negative attitudes tend to be skewed towards whites. The study further reveals that ethnicity does play a role in how people perceive other people based on their ethnicity. The sample was overrepresented by female compared to male. Similarly, whites formed almost half of the sample with the rest being shared by the other ethnic groups. These factors may have influenced the findings. There is a need for further research to assess the reasons underlying the observed attitudes towards people from different ethnic groups.
Appendix
Appendixes
