Controversial research first pulled by UQ has now been published seven years on
Brisbane research that showed bus drivers were more likely to give white people free rides than those from other racial groups has finally been published seven years after it was controversially pulled by the University of Queensland.
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CONTROVERSIAL Brisbane research which showed bus drivers were more likely to give caucasian people free rides than those from other racial groups which was suppressed by UQ has finally been published.
The study led by former UQ professor Paul Frijters and then PhD student Redzo Mujcic, now renamed The Colour of a Free Ride, was this month published in The Economic Journal, several years after it was controversially pulled by The University of Queensland in 2013.
The researchers hired people of different ethnicities and genders who were randomly assigned to board buses and present a travel card with no money and then ask the driver if they could have a free ride to a specified stop.
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The study involving 1,552 transactions found that drivers allowed white passengers who did not have the fare to still ride in 72 per cent of cases, but persons of colour were given a free ride just 36 per cent of the time.
Mujcic, now Assistant Professor of Behavioural Science at Warwick Business School, said while the study focused on bus travel, they believed the findings extend to other markets.
The University of Queensland first promoted the study but then after backlash began investigating Professor Frijters and made allegations of misconduct against him, including that the study did not have appropriate ethical clearance.
A UQ spokeswoman said the institution has a responsibility to ensure research is conducted ethically and in accordance with the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research.
“When the ethics approvals was questioned in relation to a study published in 2013, the University had an obligation to investigate under the Code,” she said.
However, the Fair Work Commission in June 2016 concluded that the investigation “process was infected by error from so early on that the fairest thing would be to commence the process from the beginning again.”
UQ sought an appeal on the finding but the Fair Work Commission refused them permission to appeal in September 2016.
Frijters, who resigned from his position at UQ after the finding in June 2016 took up a professorship at the London School of Economics, and says the research finally being published took a weight off his shoulders.
“(I’m) happy to see the research getting a lot of attention and being talked about in policy circles, helping people see what is meant with “white privilege.”
After leaving UQ, Professor Frijters said he and Dr Redzo rewrote the paper and sent it to various academic journals seeking publication.
“Both the LSE, the University of Vienna, and the University of Warwick deem the research to have been conducted with appropriate ethics approval,” Professor Frijters said.
“I have been too busy to worry much about it and though very stressful at the time, it wasn’t all bad. The support of my colleagues in the school of economics at the time was heartwarming.”
Professor Frijters added that he recognised elements of the Drew Pavlou affair in his own history with the University.
“I hope the coming parliamentary inquiry into UQ will manage to change things around.
“Queensland needs UQ to be a real university again.”
Originally published as Controversial research first pulled by UQ has now been published seven years on