Chapter 5, Problem 5.112E

Exercises 5.110 to 5.112 refer to a survey of University of California faculty members on affirmative action policies for the university (Roper Center, 1996). The survey was based on telephone interviews with a random sample of 1001 faculty members conducted In December 1995.

One question asked was as follows: The term affirmative action has different meanings to different people. Please tell me which statement best describes what you mean by the term: First, affirmative action means granting preferences to women and certain racial and ethnic groups. Second, affirmative action means promoting equal opport unities for all individuals without regard to their race, sex, or ethnicity.” The options “Neither or Both” were not given and were recorded only if the respondent offered them. The first statement was chosen by 37%, the second one by 43%, Neither” by 13%, and “Both” by 2%. The remainder said, ‘Don’t know.” The organization that comm issioned the poll, the California Association of Scholars, issued a press release that said in reference to this quest ion, These findings demolish the claim that the faculty at UC wants preferential policies.” Refer to the Possible Sources of Response Bias in Surveys” in Section 5.6, and discuss them in the context of this question and resulting press release.