Addressing methodological assumptions of correspondence tests when measuring discrimination

ABSTRACT

In this study, we introduce a critical assessment of methodological assumptions made by researchers when using correspondence tests to measure ethnic discrimination. We aim to investigate whether (1) the order in which the applications are sent out, between the test and control person, (2) the conducted matched triad tests, in comparison to matched duo tests, and (3) the timing of application within the week, have an effect on discrimination rates. For this purpose, we made use of 2.984 matched correspondence tests across Flanders, the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium. Our findings suggest that the correspondence tests are rather robust for the variability in methodology. While these different methodological choices do affect the general invitation rates, they do not affect discrimination rates.

KEYWORDS:

• Correspondence tests
• study design
• ethnic discrimination
• field experiments

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by FWO under Grant S004119N.

Notes on contributors

Abel Ghekiere

Abel Ghekiere is a joint PhD student in Sociology and Economics at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Ghent University. His research interests focus on the underlying attitudes and contextual factors of ethnic discrimination on the housing market with specific emphasis on the interdisciplinary characteristics of unequal treatment and discrimination

Billie Martiniello

Billie Martiniello is a PhD researcher in sociology at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Her work focuses on understanding and tackling discrimination on the housing market on the local level and the use of names to signal ethnicity when measuring discrimination

Pieter-Paul Verhaeghe

Pieter-Paul Verhaeghe is professor of sociology at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). He researches discrimination, migration, poverty and urban development. He often uses field experiments, such as correspondence tests and mystery shopping, to investigate social inequality and discrimination. For more details about his work, see https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Pieter-Paul_Verhaeghe