Measuring Changes in Ethnic Reactions

Abstract

T HIS paper will report a part of the results of an experimental design which attempted to measure some of the effects of Intercultural Workshop experiences upon the ethnic distance reactions of the members of the workshop. The experimental group was selected from the graduate students who had enrolled for a summer session at the University of Southern California in 1948, and who after careful screening had been admitted to an education course conducted as an Intercultural Workshop that continued for six weeks.' This research was based on a pilot experiment conducted in 1947 and it included a follow-up study made in May 1949. The persons admitted to the workshop had given tangible evidence of their interest in ethnic and racial problems, in fact, most of them had creditable records as teachers in interracial schools and neighborhoods. The control group was selected from the graduate students who were enrolled at the same time not in the Intercultural Workshop but in other education courses, such as the methods, history, and principles of education in which racial questions did not constitute the subject matter.2 The members