Statistical Standards Program
Table of Contents Introduction 1. Development of Concepts and Methods 1-1 Intial Planning of Surveys 1-2 Publication and Production Planning 1-3 Computation of Response Rates 1-4 Codes and Abbreviations 1-5 Defining Race and Ethnicity Data 1-6 Discretionary Grant Descriptions 2. Planning and Design of Surveys 3. Collection of Data 4. Processing and Editing of Data 5. Analysis of Data / Production of Estimates or Projections 6. Establishment of Review Procedures 7. Dissemination of Data Glossary Appendix A Appendix B Appendix C Appendix D Download PDF (448KB) For help viewing PDF files, please click here |
DEVELOPMENT OF CONCEPTS AND METHODS |
SUBJECT: DEFINING RACE AND ETHNICITY DATA NCES STANDARD: 1-5 PURPOSE: To provide common language to promote uniformity and comparability for the collection and reporting of data on race and ethnicity. This standard is in compliance with the definitions and procedures included in the 1997 revision of the OMB Statistical Policy Directive No. 15. KEY TERMS: American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, confidentiality, edit, Hispanic or Latino, imputation, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, public-use data file, and White.
With the two-question format, the ethnicity question must come first, followed by the question on race. Ethnicity is based on the following categorization: Hispanic or Latino: A person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race. The term "Spanish origin" can be used in addition to "Hispanic or Latino." Race is based on the following five categorizations: American Indian or Alaska Native: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America), and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment. Asian: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam. Black or African American: A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. Terms such as "Haitian" or "Negro" can be used in addition to "Black or African American." Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands. White: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa. The race question must allow respondents to choose one or more of the listed categories. Taken together, the Hispanic/Latino category from the ethnicity question and the 5 race categories result in 64 possible combinations of race and Hispanic ethnicity1. The ethnicity question is: What is this person's ethnicity? The race question is: What is this person's race? Mark one or more races to indicate what
this person considers himself/herself to be. GUIDELINE 1-5-1A: Generally, data collections will only include the categories that are listed above in the sample questions. The two ethnicity and five race categories represent the minimum categories established by OMB. However, in cases where the sample size is sufficient, NCES may elect to expand the ethnicity question to a format similar to the 2000 Decennial Census question to ask about specific Hispanic or Latino ethnicities. EXAMPLE: Similarly, if there is a need for more detail and the sample size can support it, an expanded list of races may be used. If more detail is collected, it must be possible to aggregate the data into the minimum categories specified by OMB.
"To provide flexibility and ensure data quality, separate questions shall be used whenever feasible for reporting race and ethnicity. When race and ethnicity are collected separately, ethnicity shall be collected first. If race and ethnicity are collected separately, the minimum designations are: Race: Ethnicity: When data on race and ethnicity are collected separately, provision shall be made to report the number of respondents in each racial category who are Hispanic or Latino. When aggregate data are presented, data producers shall provide the number of respondents who marked (or selected) only one category, separately for each of the five racial categories. In addition to these numbers, data producers are strongly encouraged to provide the detailed distributions, including all possible combinations, of multiple responses to the race question. If data on multiple responses are collapsed, at a minimum the total number of respondents reporting "more than one race" shall be made available."
GUIDELINE 1-5-3A: Survey documentation should describe how race and ethnicity questions were asked, how imputation and edits were accomplished, and what decisions were made to create aggregation categories.
The following are the desired minimal reporting categories for race and ethnicity in government publications. The decision rules for each combination of race and ethnicity are shown in italics: American Indian or Alaska Native, not Hispanic or Latino Asian, not Hispanic or Latino Black, not Hispanic or Latino Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, not Hispanic or Latino White, not Hispanic or Latino More than one race, not Hispanic or Latino Hispanic or Latino, regardless of race GUIDELINE 1-5-4A: The names for the groups should be capitalized, per the U.S. Government Printing Office (e.g., White, Black, Asian, etc.). GUIDELINE 1-5-4B: When the publication contains substantial text, the category names may be abbreviated after the first presentation of the categories. The authors should introduce the shortened version of the category label by saying that the two are used interchangeably in the text. The following abbreviated names are suggested for use in text or in tables and figures: American Indian (instead of American Indian or Alaska Native) A footnote is needed to describe these "abbreviations" as follows: American Indian includes Alaska Native, Black includes African American, Pacific Islander includes Native Hawaiian, and Hispanic includes Latino. Race categories exclude Hispanic origin unless specified. Footnotes: |