RACE COMPARISONS ON NEED FOR ACHIEVEMENT - A METAANALYTIC ALTERNATIVETO GRAHAMS NARRATIVE REVIEW

A box score review conducted by Graham (1994) concluded that no differ ence existed between Blacks and Whites on measures of need for achieve ment. A meta-analysis reported in this article using the same research base revealed reliable and complex race differences. Overall, Whites scored higher than Blacks on measures of need for achievement, but the race difference all but disappeared in studies conducted after 1970. As a possible explanation the meta-analysis revealed that since 1970 s amples of participants from various socioeconomic levels have been pre ferred and that such samples showed differences between races of only half the size of those shown for samples of participants of strictly l ower socioeconomic status. The method of assessment and the age and ed ucation of participants also influenced outcomes of race comparisons. Finally, Graham concluded that the research showed a consistent patter n of more positive self-concept of ability among Blacks than Whites. T he meta-analysis also found this effect but revealed it to be smaller (though nonsignificantly so) than the difference in need for achieveme nt rejected by the box score. Thus, the meta-analysis found that effec ts are no larger in an area where Graham concluded they existed than i n an area where she concluded they did not.