Friday, January 23, 2009
Hargrove Vanderbilt: Obama Makes Blacks Perform Better on Tests
Posted by Brantley Hargrove on Fri, Jan 23, 2009 at 5:41 AM
File this study under Somewhat Contrived Methodology Yielding Questionable Results or Hope-based Science. Vanderbilt professor Ray Friedman just released the results of a study examining the relationship between positive Obama national attention and the test scores of black people.
Over a three-month period during the campaign, researchers administered a Graduate Record Exam to 472 people--388 of them white and 84 of them black, a fairly demographically accurate representation--twice when his achievements were less prominent and twice when he was something of a national darling (his nomination speech and his eventual victory).
When Obama was out of the spotlight, there was a disparity between the test scores of whites and blacks. But when the full glare of media hysteria beatified him, that disparity vanished as quickly as Fred Thompson's candidacy, a phenomenon dubbed "The Obama Effect." Note: Only blacks who watched the nomination speech closed the gap in test scores.
As part of the study, researchers examined the effect of negative stereotypes--e.g., would poor performance on tests be attributed to race. Though it seems a rather leading question, most respondents said they were concerned about negative stereotypes whether Obama was elected or not. But when he shined, they seemed to be able to overcome these concerns.
What do you think PITW readers? Is this study heralding a post-racial world, or are the results the contrived offspring of wishful thinking?
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