Audit study

{{Short description|Method for studying discrimination}} A type of study used in economics, sociology, political science, and psychology, an '''audit study''' is one in which trained employees of the researcher ("auditors") are matched on all characteristics except the one being tested for discrimination.<ref>{{cite book |editor=Gaddis, S. Michael | title=Audit Studies: Behind the Scenes with Theory, Method, and Nuance | publisher=Springer | year=2018| doi=10.1007/978-3-319-71153-9 | isbn=978-3-319-71152-2 }}</ref> These auditors then apply for a service, be it a job, financial advice regarding their stock portfolio,<ref>{{cite journal |title=The Market for Financial Advice: An Audit Study |date=March 2012 |author1=Mullainathan, Sendhil |author2=Noeth, Markus |author3=Schoar, Antoinette |journal=NBER Working Paper No. 17929 | doi=10.3386/w17929|doi-access=free }}</ref> housing,<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Page|first1=Marianne|title=Racial and ethnic discrimination in urban housing markets: Evidence from a recent audit study|journal=Journal of Urban Economics|date=1995|volume=38|issue=2|pages=183–206|doi=10.1006/juec.1995.1028|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0094119085710285|url-access=subscription}}</ref> or a credit card, to test for discrimination.<ref>{{cite book |editor=Fix, Michael |editor2=Struyk, Raymond J. | url=https://ideas.repec.org/p/feb/natura/00241.html | title=Clear and Convincing Evidence: Measurement of Discrimination in America | publisher=Urban Institute Press | year=1993}}</ref>

==Applications== Audit studies have been conducted to test the existence of discrimination in numerous occupations and services and in regards to multiple characteristics.<ref>{{Citation |last=Bertrand |first=M. |title=Field Experiments on Discriminationa |date=2017-01-01 |work=Handbook of Economic Field Experiments |volume=1 |pages=309–393 |editor-last=Banerjee |editor-first=Abhijit Vinayak |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214658X1630006X |access-date=2025-10-08 |series=Handbook of Field Experiments |publisher=North-Holland |doi=10.1016/bs.hefe.2016.08.004 |last2=Duflo |first2=E. |editor2-last=Duflo |editor2-first=Esther}}</ref> For example, studies have been conducted to measure discrimination against racial minorities by real estate agents,<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Page|first1=Marianne|title=Racial and Ethnic Discrimination in Urban Housing Markets: Evidence from a Recent Audit Study|journal=Journal of Urban Economics|date=September 1995|volume=38|issue=2|pages=183–206|doi=10.1006/juec.1995.1028}}</ref> racial discrimination in professional networking on LinkedIn<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Evsyukova® |first=Yulia |last2=Rusche® |first2=Felix |last3=Mill |first3=Wladislaw |date=2025-01-11 |title=LinkedOut? A Field Experiment on Discrimination in Job Network Formation |url=https://academic.oup.com/qje/article/140/1/283/7842027 |journal=The Quarterly Journal of Economics |language=en |volume=140 |issue=1 |pages=283–334 |doi=10.1093/qje/qjae035 |issn=0033-5533}}</ref> and Twitter,<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Ajzenman |first=Nicolás |last2=Ferman |first2=Bruno |last3=Sant'Anna |first3=Pedro C. |date=September 2025 |title=Discrimination in the Formation of Academic Networks: A Field Experiment on #EconTwitter |url=https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aeri.20240298 |journal=American Economic Review: Insights |language=en |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=357–375 |doi=10.1257/aeri.20240298 |issn=2640-205X}}</ref> requests on Airbnb,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Edelman |first=Benjamin |last2=Luca |first2=Michael |last3=Svirsky |first3=Dan |date=April 2017 |title=Racial Discrimination in the Sharing Economy: Evidence from a Field Experiment |url=https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/app.20160213 |journal=American Economic Journal: Applied Economics |language=en |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=1–22 |doi=10.1257/app.20160213 |issn=1945-7782}}</ref> prices in online markets,<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Doleac |first=Jennifer L. |last2=Stein |first2=Luke C.D. |date=2013-11-01 |title=The Visible Hand: Race and Online Market Outcomes |url=https://academic.oup.com/ej/article/123/572/F469-F492/5080452 |journal=The Economic Journal |language=en |volume=123 |issue=572 |pages=F469–F492 |doi=10.1111/ecoj.12082 |issn=0013-0133}}</ref> emails to early childcare facilities <ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hermes |first=Henning |last2=Lergetporer |first2=Philipp |last3=Peter |first3=Frauke |last4=Wiederhold |first4=Simon |date=2025-06-16 |title=Application Barriers and the Socioeconomic Gap in Child Care Enrollment |url=https://academic.oup.com/jeea/article/23/3/1133/7905880 |journal=Journal of the European Economic Association |language=en |volume=23 |issue=3 |pages=1133–1172 |doi=10.1093/jeea/jvae054 |issn=1542-4766}}</ref> as well as gender discrimination against women applying for restaurant jobs.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Neumark|first1=D.|last2=Bank|first2=R. J.|last3=Van Nort|first3=K. D.|title=Sex Discrimination in Restaurant Hiring: An Audit Study|journal=The Quarterly Journal of Economics|date=1 August 1996|volume=111|issue=3|pages=915–941|doi=10.2307/2946676|jstor=2946676|s2cid=150106209 |url=http://www.nber.org/papers/w5024.pdf}}</ref> Most employment-related audit studies have focused on overqualified college students applying for low-paying jobs during the summer.<ref name=jep/> They have also been used to measure racial and gender discrimination in academia,<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Milkman|first1=K. L.|last2=Akinola|first2=M.|last3=Chugh|first3=D.|title=Temporal Distance and Discrimination: An Audit Study in Academia|journal=Psychological Science|date=21 May 2012|volume=23|issue=7|pages=710–717|doi=10.1177/0956797611434539|pmid=22614463|s2cid=6706060 }}</ref> racial discrimination in the low<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Pager|first1=D.|title=The Mark of a Criminal Record|journal=American Journal of Sociology|date=March 2003|volume=108|issue=5|pages=937–975|doi=10.1086/374403|s2cid=11568703 }}</ref> and high<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Gaddis|first1=S. M.|title=Discrimination in the Credential Society: An Audit Study of Race and College Selectivity in the Labor Market|journal=Social Forces|date=June 2015|volume=93|issue=4|pages=1451–1479|doi=10.1093/sf/sou111|url=http://osf.io/6qjue/}}</ref> ends of the labor market, discrimination in social integration,<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Gomez-Gonzalez|first1=Carlos|last2=Nesseler|first2=Cornel|last3=Dietl|first3=Helmut|date=2021|title=Mapping discrimination in Europe through a field experiment in amateur sport|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-021-00773-2.pdf|journal=Humanities and Social Sciences Communications|volume=8|pages=1–7|doi=10.1057/s41599-021-00773-2|doi-access=free}}</ref> and racial/ethnic discrimination in roommate selection.<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.1177/2378023120972287 | title=Searching for a Roommate: A Correspondence Audit Examining Racial/Ethnic and Immigrant Discrimination among Millennials | year=2020 | last1=Gaddis | first1=S. Michael | last2=Ghoshal | first2=Raj | journal=Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World | volume=6 | pmid=34355061 | pmc=8336603 | s2cid=213167707 | doi-access=free }}</ref>

==Criticism== Audit studies have been criticized because the auditors may look different to employers, and this may result in the appearance of discrimination when employers were really just making decisions based on appearance.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Neumark|first1=David|title=Detecting Discrimination in Audit and Correspondence Studies|journal=Journal of Human Resources|date=2012|volume=47|issue=4|pages=1128–1157|doi=10.3368/jhr.47.4.1128|hdl=10419/46132|s2cid=17645916 |url=https://econpapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp5263 |hdl-access=free}}</ref> The other limitations of these studies, according to their critics, include that they are unable to audit jobs found through interactions with other people directly, only those found through newspapers.<ref name=jep>{{cite journal | jstor=2646964| title=Detecting Discrimination | author=Heckman, James J. | journal=The Journal of Economic Perspectives | date=Spring 1998 | volume=12 | issue=2| pages=101–116 | doi=10.1257/jep.12.2.101 |doi-access=free| citeseerx=10.1.1.371.4425 }}</ref> Additionally, others have noted the lack of standardization of signals (primarily names) to indicate race through correspondence (e.g., resumes and emails).<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Gaddis|first1=S. Michael|title=How Black Are Lakisha and Jamal? Racial Perceptions from Names Used in Correspondence Audit Studies|journal=Sociological Science|date=2017|volume=4|pages=469–489|doi=10.15195/v4.a19|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Gaddis|first1=S. Michael|title=Racial/Ethnic Perceptions from Hispanic Names: Selecting Names to Test for Discrimination|journal=Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World|date=2017|volume=3|pages=237802311773719|doi=10.1177/2378023117737193|url=http://osf.io/43frs/|doi-access=free}}</ref> Aside from being a noisy signal, since not everybody may understand what, e.g., a "Black" name is, names have also been criticized for signalling additional information.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Webservices |first=Parker |date=2017-09-06 |title=How Black Are Lakisha and Jamal? Racial Perceptions from Names Used in Correspondence Audit Studies |url=https://sociologicalscience.com/articles-v4-19-469/ |journal=Sociological Science |language=en-US |volume=4 |pages=469–489 |doi=10.15195/v4.a19 |issn=2330-6696}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Fryer |first=R. G. |last2=Levitt |first2=S. D. |date=2004-08-01 |title=The Causes and Consequences of Distinctively Black Names |url=https://academic.oup.com/qje/article-lookup/doi/10.1162/0033553041502180 |journal=The Quarterly Journal of Economics |language=en |volume=119 |issue=3 |pages=767–805 |doi=10.1162/0033553041502180 |issn=0033-5533}}</ref> For instance, in the USA, stereotypically Black names are associated with lower socioeconomic background within the Black community.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kreisman |first=Daniel |last2=Smith |first2=Jonathan |date=April 2023 |title=Distinctively Black Names and Educational Outcomes |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/722093 |journal=Journal of Political Economy |volume=131 |issue=4 |pages=877–897 |doi=10.1086/722093 |issn=0022-3808}}</ref> However, some recent studies have used AI-generated images,<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> pictures of hands,<ref name=":2" /> or pictures of actors<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kaas |first=Leo |last2=Manger |first2=Christian |date=2012-02-01 |title=Ethnic Discrimination in Germany's Labour Market: A Field Experiment |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1111/j.1468-0475.2011.00538.x/html |journal=German Economic Review |language=en |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=1–20 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-0475.2011.00538.x |issn=1468-0475}}</ref> to signal race.

Other criticisms concern the ethics of running such experiments. Specifically, it has been pointed out that audit studies do typically not obtain informed consent of participants. Simultaneously, they generate some though usually low costs to participants and rarely provide benefits. Because of this, the literature has developed multiple guidlines to judge the ethics of an audit study on discrimination specifically. This includes judging (1) the potential harm to participants, (2) against the benefits of having a reliable measure of discrimination, (3) and taking into account whether there are other, less harmful ways to measure discrimination in the same setting. Finally, (4) deception should not strongly violate the norms of the setting the experiment is conducted in.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Salganik |first=Matthew J. |title=Bit by bit: social research in the digital age |date=2019 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-15864-8 |edition=First paperback printing |location=Princeton Oxford}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:Personnel economics Category:Discrimination Category:Research methods Category:Experimental economics