Unexpectedly, the results exhibited an even distribution rate between the envelopes with a Middle Eastern name and White name. There were 40 out of 159 envelopes returned for the White name, and 45 out of 161 for the Middle Eastern names. The results do not support the hypothesis of the White name receiving a higher return rate. The data would suggest that there is no bias against middle easterns in the Columbus, Georgia and Phenix City, Alabama areas. In other studies the results are mixed. Petrykowski et al. (2010) used the lost letter technique in their study, “Perceived Arab ethnicity on willingness to help: An application of the lost-letter technique”. The research in their study Petrykowski et al. (2010), led them to the hypothesis of
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Not knowing the ethnicity or religion of the returnees and non-returners is a big limitation. What if most of the returned letters from the Middle Eastern name were returned by people of either middle eastern decent or belonged to the Muslim religion? If data like ethnicity and religion of the participate were known we may look at the result of this study in a different light. Another possible limitation would be the envelopes. The placement of the envelops could of cause returnees not to see them causing are non return rate to be inflated. Another limitation with the use of envelopes is that the envelopes are made from paper and paper is frail. There may have been envelopes that were destroyed either by weather, vehicles, or just simply by a person not seeing it and stepping on them. Also by using envelopes it requires people to mail them off themselves, so that brings the question how many of the non-returned envelopes were just due to a participant being lazy instead of being bias?
Future research on the topic of Middle Eastern and Muslim discrimination and bias should stray away from the lost letter method, as it is not an effective way to measure true discrimination and bias. The current study raises the question of how to come up with a more effective method to measure discrimination and bias. If a better method were found it would be beneficial due to being able to tell if discrimination
Not knowing the ethnicity or religion of the returnees and non-returners is a big limitation. What if most of the returned letters from the Middle Eastern name were returned by people of either middle eastern decent or belonged to the Muslim religion? If data like ethnicity and religion of the participate were known we may look at the result of this study in a different light. Another possible limitation would be the envelopes. The placement of the envelops could of cause returnees not to see them causing are non return rate to be inflated. Another limitation with the use of envelopes is that the envelopes are made from paper and paper is frail. There may have been envelopes that were destroyed either by weather, vehicles, or just simply by a person not seeing it and stepping on them. Also by using envelopes it requires people to mail them off themselves, so that brings the question how many of the non-returned envelopes were just due to a participant being lazy instead of being bias?
Future research on the topic of Middle Eastern and Muslim discrimination and bias should stray away from the lost letter method, as it is not an effective way to measure true discrimination and bias. The current study raises the question of how to come up with a more effective method to measure discrimination and bias. If a better method were found it would be beneficial due to being able to tell if discrimination