In addition, research has found that formal charges of discrimination led to a decrease in stock prices, and public recognition of affirmative action excellence led to a temporary increase in stock prices. In short, there is evidence that affirmative action helps target group members, but no empirical evidence that it harms organizations. The conclusions drawn above must be tempered by limitations in the research. Much of the research on target and non-target group members' reactions has used experiments, which necessarily simplify matters. This has the advantage of increasing internal validity, but does not permit exploration of the complexity of affirmative action attitudes.
Research using surveys, in contrast, is more likely to permit such exploration.
Survey research, however, lacks internal validity. Unfortunately, as we have mentioned throughout this review, many questions have been addressed in limited ways. Another potential limitation is the contextual realism of the research and stimuli for participants. In comparison to actual AAPs, the stimuli used in most of this research have been simplistic. Furthermore, much of the research has been done with undergraduates who typically have had little direct experience with affirmative action.