| Popis: |
The current social and economic crisis due to the Corona pandemic requires people to help each other and show solidarity towards their community members. Studying helping behavior in society in times of this crisis, especially the differences in helping behavior toward specific groups, will allow for a better understanding and support for those who are systematically disadvantaged during these challenging times. Due to the extraordinary circumstances in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to examine helping behavior in our society. The central research question of the project is if and under which circumstances is solidarity expressed to marginalized groups in society. The research design is inspired by the Lost Letter method: we will distribute a total of 2100 leaflets with requests for help, on which a fictitious person asks for support with their grocery shopping. The leaflets will be placed partly in supermarkets and on traffic light poles. We will vary the name of the person asking for help (one typical German name to indicate no migration background (Angelika Schneider), one typical Chinese name (Xiu Ying Wang), and one typical Turkish name (Ayse Yilmaz), respectively, to indicate the membership of a potentially disadvantaged minority group) to examine whether helping behavior varies between these group. The response behavior to these requests for help will be the dependent variable. We further vary indications of whether or not the person has been infected with the coronavirus or whether they are part of the risk group. The study will be conducted in 12 German cities (at least 200.000 inhabitants each). The aim is to find out whether people of marginalized groups receive less help, even during a time in which solidarity is highly proclaimed. The aim is further to find out if and how the indication of potential health risks interplays with racial prejudice. In addition, we plan to conduct two follow-up online surveys (which we register separately), one with volunteers from the field experiment and one with online panelists (= general population). |
