Abstract
In a previous experimental study, we documented that social norms in discrimination games vary by social context. In particular, we show that participants rate in-group favouritism as more or less socially appropriate based on the social identity that is in play. Participants perceived it to be more socially inappropriate to discriminate on the basis of religious affiliation than on the basis of political identity. The study included also a behavioural task that showed an alignment between social norms and behaviours. Participants opted for decisions that favoured their in-groups more frequently in the social contexts where those decisions were regarded as more socially appropriate. This study was carried out in experimental laboratories in the UK and Spain between 2022 and 2023.
Here, we present a research design to validate a survey instrument that would allow us to explore similar questions using survey research instead of standard laboratory experiments. For that, we plan to repeat the experiment under the same conditions and compare the results of elicited norms with a survey implemented in the lab. Additionally, once validated in the lab, we will implement our instrument in a large-sample survey within an online panel. Our hypothesis is that participants will rate in-group favouritism differently in different contexts of social identity, regardless of the research instrument employed. Moreover, we hypothesise that the rankings of appropriateness of discrimination in different social contexts will be the same across experimental modes