Nigerian Researcher Plays Critical Role in Groundbreaking Field Project on Class and Customer Discrimination

By Tosin Clegg

A collaborative research effort investigating ethnic and class-based discrimination in Lagos informal markets has yielded new insights into how customer characteristics affect service quality in Nigeria’s commercial spaces. The study, led by international researchers, was powered by the innovative field strategies of Nigerian researcher Oluwatobi Adeyoyin, whose role was instrumental in executing the field-based experimental design that underpins the findings.

The project, conducted in mid-2015 in partnership with U.S.-based academics from Stanford University and Ohio University, aimed to test how social identity cues—such as ethnic background and socioeconomic appearance—alter the way customers are treated by traders in urban markets. At the core of the fieldwork was Adeyoyin’s role as lead ethnographic operative, responsible for simulating customer interactions and documenting real-time observation from trader-customer interaction.

“This work demanded more than survey design. It required cultural fluency, adaptive thinking, and ethical sensitivity to engage traders without disrupting the market ecosystem,” said Adeyoyin, reflecting on his contribution to the project. “We weren’t just collecting data—we were uncovering social patterns that shape everyday economic interaction.”

Over the course of six weeks, Adeyoyin led a series of structured interactions in Lagos markets, adopting different ethnic and class-based identities to evaluate how informal traders altered their pricing, tone, service attentiveness, and negotiation flexibility. The method, known as experimental ethnography, had rarely been applied in the Nigerian context with this level of rigor.

“Oluwatobi’s insight into local dynamics and his ability to authentically embody multiple cultural profiles were central to the validity of our findings,” said one of the project’s lead investigators. “He didn’t just assist the research—he shaped it.”

The preliminary results, now under academic review, indicate that Yoruba-speaking male customers in formal attire received quicker attention, more favorable pricing, and warmer engagement than customers signaling non-Yoruba ethnicity or lower economic status. These findings contribute to a growing global discourse on micro-level discrimination in economic interactions and hold implications for equity in Nigeria’s vast informal economy.

In addition to executing the field design, Adeyoyin contributed to the data interpretation process, offering cultural context that helped distinguish between benign behavior and systemic bias. His ability to synthesize sociological theory with on-the-ground realities provided the team with a deeper understanding of how ethnic identity and class perception intersect in commercial relationships.

The study has already drawn interest from local NGOs working on social inclusion, as well as academics exploring bias in consumer economics. It is expected to be presented at upcoming conferences on urban sociology and development studies.

Beyond this project, Oluwatobi Adeyoyin is known for his growing contributions to research on cultural identity, social stress, and equity frameworks in West African urban environments. He continues to engage in field-based research that challenges assumptions and informs inclusive policy.

“This study reminds us that even the most routine interactions—like buying vegetables or mobile recharge cards—can reflect deeper structures of privilege, exclusion and our inherent bias” Adeyoyin said. “If we can see it, we can change it.”