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By Susan Williams
See Related Story in this issue: 'Reaching Beyond Race'
Carmines and Sniderman devised a series of nationally randomized survey-based experimentation to test the honesty of white Americans in responding to questions about black Americans. Hidden experiments are embedded into seemingly ordinary interviews.
In an article written for CommonQuest, the magazine of black/Jewish relations, Carmines and Sniderman, describe their methodology. This excerpt explains the "Excuse Experiment."
"The idea is simple: Offer whites who say they think highly of blacks a good excuse to say something critical of them and see how many take it.
"We gave people this basic story line. A pair of men were seen walking near a house where the police knew drugs were being sold. The police then searched them and found drugs. Half the time the suspects are black, the other half white. And we add another twist. Sometimes the suspects are described as 'using foul language,' sometimes as 'well dressed and well behaved.'
"Then we ask whether the search was reasonable or unreasonable.
"Whites who lie when they say they think well of blacks, when asked about 'foul-mouthed' blacks walking by the drug house, can thus say the search was reasonable without having to admit they think most black men are criminals; they can say instead the search is reasonable because using obscene language in public is suspiciously deviant.
"What, then, were the results? When the suspects are white, the search is much more likely to be judged reasonable if the suspects had been 'using foul language' (66 percent) than if they were 'well dressed and well behaved' (47 percent).
"But what happens when whites who say they think well of blacks are handed the excuse of blacks behaving badly? Do they take special advantage of it? Are they more likely to say the search is reasonable than when the foul-mouthed suspects are white?
"The answer is no. They attach the same weight--no more, no less--to using foul language for black suspects. Indeed, 60 percent of whites say the search is reasonable."
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