Bias and Adverse Perceptions of African-American Ethnicity

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Abstract

The African-American community continues to face disparities and unfair treatment years after abolishing Jim Crow laws and the Brown vs. Board of Education decision, which ended segregation and racism on a policy level. From a societal perspective, institutional racism and stereotypes affect the perception of this ethnicity. For example, college professors have lower expectations of African-Americans students’ academic achievements. Moreover, the media’s portrayal of African-Americans is usually negative, contributing to the stereotype of them being lazy or not hard working. The education system disparities are a pressing problem because, without access to educational resources, the African-Americans will be unable to find proper jobs and achieve economic welfare. Hence, this research aims to study faculty members’ perceptions towards African-Americans to contribute to the comprehension of the racial biases that hinder education opportunities for this community. This research utilizes both interviews and a Likert scale survey to determine the perceptions towards the African-Americans among the faculty. Through this project, the researcher determined that African-Americans still experience bias and adverse perceptions of their ethnicity, which obstructs their studies and academic success. Future research should focus on formulating ways for educating professors about these biases and White privilege, for example, through social media.

Background

The premise of addressing the inequality and treatment disparities that the African-Americans face is the United States Constitution that guarantees equal rights to all. However, the media’s portrayal of the African-Americans contributes to them being perceived as lazy and to other negative perceptions and the persistence of systematic racism. Cole (2020) defines systemic racism as a negative attitude and bias towards representatives of a certain race embedded in social structures, institutions, and public services. Moreover, Cole (2020) argues that systemic racism is not merely a concept. It is the reality in the United States, embedded into the social structures. Joe Feagin is a social psychologist who developed the idea of system racism. According to Brondolo et al. (2008), racism results in both the daily negative affect and lifestyle impact and education is the mitigating factor that limits the adverse effect of racist perceptions.

The negative stereotypes about African-Americans have existed for decades, and they continue to impact society’s view of this group. Green (1999) argues that the formation of stereotypes is a normal part of human behavior, and these are cognitive structures that contain specific knowledge and expectations. The issue with stereotypes is that they are usually implicit and create a distorted view of reality. For example, racial stereotypes imply that one sees all race representatives as people who have the same characteristics. According to Green (1999), “images of the Sambo, Jim Crow, the Savage, Mammy, Aunt Jemimah, Sapphire, and Jezebelle may not be as powerful today, yet they are still alive” (para. 10).

Another proof of racism existing to this day is its manifestation online. Haughton (2016) studied digital discrimination using the scoring of discussion board posts for students of different races and found that instructors expect less from students of color. Hence, posts that were signed with the name DeShawn received a consistently higher score than the identical posts with a traditional name for a white American. The lower expectations in education facilities regarding African-Americans students are alarming since this bias may hinder well-achieving students and put barriers for African-Americans who want to get an education. Similar findings and biases are reported by Hubbart and Stage (2016), who found a significant difference in population diversity among elite higher education institutions and regular colleges. Elite universities have a heterogeneous population of students, with a lesser number of minorities. Moreover, this research found a bias towards African-American students even in the institutions that have the majority of Hispanic students. Hence, the prejudice against African-American students is present even in institutions that should educate them.

Research Problem

The scholars do not have a clear understanding of factors that impact African-Americans’ perception in education institutions. Future research can benefit from this study because it will create a framework for improving the policies that help mitigate the barriers that African-American students have and help them.

Purpose Statement

The purpose is to examine the attitudes of faculty members towards African-American students and create a theoretical model. Hence, the goal is to determine whether their faculty indeed have a different perspective of African-Americans than other students and aid further research that can help create a framework for fighting racial stereotypes and creating cultural competence on campus.

Research Questions

The following research questions are the basis of this study and are integrated into the interview and surveys:

Do perceptions about African American dressing, and way of speaking (white, Ebonics), television influence, age, gender, education, ethnicity, where they were raised, type of tv programs, the number of hours spent on tv per week significantly explain the attitudes towards African Americans?

Conceptual or Theoretical Framework

The critical race theory (CRT) is the basis of this study because it explains the effect that racism and slavery have had on African-Americans and the disproportionate amount of social issues they face compared to the White community. For example, Tate (1997) refers to the inferiority paradigm, under which the African Americans are perceived as lesser in terms of their skills and abilities. These stereotypes were formed throughout history and continue to impact this community. CRT is the basis for this study, which implies that race serves as the basis of discrimination and a difference in the way people of color are treated on the institutional level. Considering this, CRT is linked with the ideas of systemic racism since both imply that African-Americans face consistent discrimination at the institutional level, and this trend has been present for years.

Research Design

The Phenomenon of interest is based on the CRT. The African-Americans continue to face disparities to this day, for example, in education settings where the faculty members treat this population differently compared to others. This research has a qualitative design. Hence the author selected interviews as the most appropriate method for examining a phenomenon. The interviews are structured, which allows comparing the answers of different responders on the same matter. Additionally, the Likert scale is used for surveying the participants.

Role of the Researcher

Since this study implied studying the attitudes towards African-Americans among the University faculty, the recruited participants are either the members of faculty or students. Hence, the researcher is familiar with these individuals. However, to manage potential bias, all answers will be recorded, and coding will be applied to analyze the answers. Additionally, The Responding Desirability Scale (RD16) and Cultural Sensitivity Toward Teaching African American Students (CLAAS) will be used to account for bias as these are tools developed and tested by other researchers.

Participant Selection

Purposeful sampling is suitable for this research because the focus of the study is the faculty members. This study utilizes the purposeful sampling method, under which the researcher sets specific criteria and selected a sample based on them (Conway, 2020). Moreover, Palinkas et al. (2015) argue that combining several purposeful sampling methods is best. The sample size for this study is 30 individuals, out of whom 10 are faculty members and 20 are students, which allows achieving adequate results saturation.

Due to the pandemic restrictions, the participants were invited by using the University emailing system, and the Vice President of Student Services was contacted first to obtain approval. The potential participants were required to fill out a preliminary questionnaire and the ones who fit the sampling criteria were chosen based on their age, gender, perception of the elements of the African-American culture, position, ethnicity, and personal preferences towards the TV shows. The interviews were conducted using Zoom as face-to-face meetings should be avoided during the pandemic.

Instrumentation

The questions were developed using the evidence from the literature and personal experiences of seeing African-Americans’ portrayal in the media. Other data sources will be media mediums, such as TV shows and journals on racial studies. The interview questions are based on the CRT and systemic racism concepts and aim to determine the stereotypes that persist in the minds of educators. Validity and credibility were established through CSTAAS and RD16 and by thoroughly describing the data collection process and including the transcripts.

Procedures for Data Collection

The data is collected via an interaction between the interviewer and the interviewee. The interviews were conducted and recorded using an online service Zoom, to avoid face-to-face contact. The interviewed individuals were briefed on the purpose of the interview beforehand through an email that contained questions and a consent form. Before the first question, the interviewer informed the participants of the purpose and nature of the study and the ways in which the data will be analyzed and used. To ensure compliance with ethical practices, the participants were briefed about confidentiality and were encouraged to contact the representatives of the University in case they had questions or concerns. No personal data, such as names, occupation, gender, age, or other, was included in the recordings and transcripts.

Data Analysis Plan

The purpose was to explore the attitudes of faculty members towards African American students. The research question:

Do perceptions about African American dressing, and way of speaking (white, Ebonics), television influence, age, gender, education, ethnicity, where they were raised, type of tv programs, the number of hours spent on tv per week significantly explain the attitudes towards African Americans?

The answers of the participants were recorded via Zoom and transcribed. Next, NVIVO software was used for color-coding. Color coding is a good practice for qualitative studies because it helps identify patterns in responses from interviews (Conway, 2020). NVIVO was selected as software because it helps find common themes even with complex research questions (“NVIVO,” n.d.). Hence, the qualitative data collected through interviews for this study were analyzed using color coding and NVIVO software.

Issues of Trustworthiness

With qualitative studies, the issue of trustworthiness can be addressed through adequate methodology and by revealing the nature of the study to the participants, which allows achieving transparency. Credibility was established through triangulation, or comparison of the interview responses with those from a survey (Conway, 2020). An alternative method is member checking or provisioning the answers to the respondents. Transferability was tested describing the broader context of this study, but another method is considering how the results can be applied for the general population. Dependability was established by thoroughly describing the data collection procedures. Alternatively, a researcher can demonstrate dependability by discussing the conceptualization of the study to prove that no mistakes were made in the process. Finally, confirmability is achieved by an audit trail, which is a detailed description of the process (Korstjensa & Moser, 2018). Another confirmability method is reflexivity, where a researcher discusses how their background affected the study.

Introduction

This research builds on the theoretical basis of the CRT and the misconceptions regarding the population of African-Americans. Consequently, the findings help explore the biases and problems that continue to affect the African-American learners, with a prominent example of the faculty members’ attitudes towards this population affecting their access to education and the process in general. In this section, the author will discuss the contributions of this research to CRT and comprehension of racial biases.

Reflection on Social Change

This project aligns with Walden’s mission towards social change. This university declares a vision for educating people who will help address pressing social problems and serves as “a connective hub that promotes, facilitates, and supports collaborative alliances, action research, and projects that lead to purposeful action for sustainable positive social change” (“About us,” n.d., para. 1). This research helps embrace the differences between different ethnicities and address social disparities that are still a reality for the African-Americans, thus aligning with Walden’s mission.

Reflection on Course Learning

This research helped me understand the basic principles of qualitative research. I was able to practice collecting data on a subject of interest and evaluating it to find a research gap. Moreover, the practical assignment helped me become comfortable with being an interviewer. Thus, this learning experience will help me prepare for my dissertation and work on my future research projects as a practitioner and a scholar.

Next Steps

Before completing the dissertation, I intend on reviewing the feedback from the instructors and revising the work to meet the University’s standards. Additionally, I plan on examining more sources and studies to enhance my understanding of CRT and systemic racism. Next, I plan to review similar studies to read their approach to data collection and their results. All in all, this project has prepared me and given me the knowledge and skills necessary to complete a dissertation.

References

About us. (n.d.). Web.

Brondolo, E., Brady, N., Thompson, S., Tobin, J. N., Cassells, A., Sweeney, M., McFarlane, D., & Contrada, R. J. (2008). Perceived racism and negative affect: Analyses of trait and state measures of affect in a community sample. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 27(2), 150–173. Web.

Cole, N. (2020). Definition of systemic racism in sociology: Beyond prejudice and micro-aggressions. Thought Co. Web.

Conway, C. (Ed.). (2020). Approaches to qualitative research. Oxford University Press.

Green, L. (1999). Stereotypes: Negative racial stereotypes and their effect on attitudes toward African-Americans. Perspectives on Multiculturalism and Cultural Identity, 9(1), 1-10.

Haughton, G., M. (2016). Digital racism: A quantitative analysis of the extent that perceptions of student race influence instructors scoring of online posts.International Research in Higher Education, 1(2), 215-226. Web.

Hubbard, S. M., & Stage, F. A. (2016). Attitudes, perceptions, and preferences of faculty at Hispanic serving and predominantly black institutions. The Journal of Higher Education, 80(3), 270-289.

NVIVO. (n.d.). Web.

Korstjens, I. & Moser, A. (2018). Series: Practical guidance to qualitative research. Part 4: Trustworthiness and publishing. European Journal of General Practice, 24(1), 120-124. Web.

Palinkas, L., Horwitz, S., Green, C., Wisdom, J., Duan, N., & Hoagwood, K. (2015). Purposeful sampling for qualitative data collection and analysis in mixed method implementation research. Administration and Policy In Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 42(5), 533-544. Web.

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