Ellen Yates : Seminar 10

Gail Brodholt: Snow in the Suburbs

Was this an experiment or an observational

study?

Was this an experiment or an observational

study?

experiment

National Fair Housing Alliance

For Pittsburgh, the study only reported on the treatment of Blacks and Whites

In this experiment, people volunteered to go to realtors and pretend to shop for property. The Black volunteers were given a slightly higher pretend income than the Whites

The different types of housing discrimination studied included, steering, unequal financial aid and unequal number of units showed

Defining the Variables

How could we present the information?

Categorical Explanatory Variable:

Categorical Response Variable:

Defining the Variables

How could we present the information?

Categorical Explanatory Variable:

City

Categorical Response Variable:

Defining the Variables

How could we present the information?

Categorical Explanatory Variable:

City

Categorical Response Variable:

Adverse Treatment Against Black Clients

Rentals

Should we compare the proportions or numbers?

Consistent Adverse Treatment Against Black Renters

Inconsistent/No adverse Treatment Against Black Renters

total

Detroit MSA 9 57 66

Pittsburgh MSA 13 66 79

Atlanta MSA 28 62 90

Rentals

Atlanta has the highest percentage in the response of interest, Consistent Adverse Treatment

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Perscentage ofConsitentAdverse

TreatmentAgainst Black

Renters

Detroit MSA

Pittsburgh MSA

Atlanta MSA

Sales

Again, we should compare proportions because the numbers are different and

this is a categorical relationship.

Consistent Adverse Treatment of Black Buyers

Inconsistent/ Adverse Treatment of Black Buyers

Total

Atlanta MSA 7 82 89

Pittsburgh MSA 18 58 76

Birmingham MSA

18 48 66

Sales Birmingham had the

highest percentage in the variable of interests, Consistent Adverse Treatment.

Surprisingly, Atlanta had the lowest percentage of consistent adverse treatment in sales of all the cities studied, even though they had the highest percentage in the rental category.

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Percentage ofConsistentAdverseTreatent

Against BlackBuyers

Atlanta MSAPittsburgh MSABirmingham MSA

Was this data for a sample or an entire population?

Was this data for a sample or an entire population?

Sample of course!

Problems?

The sample sizes were very small.

The Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area has a population of 2,370,776 (according to Wikipedia) but the largest of the two Pittsburgh sample groups was 79, only .003 percent of the population.

The volunteers knew what the study was trying to prove when they went into the realtors’ offices. So the realtors were blind, but the experimenters weren’t.

However consistent adverse treatment was determined by objective things like race of neighborhood, number of units and financial aid.

The National Fair Housing Alliance in Pittsburgh still conducts studies like this to expose discrimination. If you think you look old enough to be buying a house, you could volunteer.

Carlos F. Peterson: At Freedom Corner

Thank You.