Measuring Racial Discrimination (2004) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
10 Measurement of Race by the U.S. Government
10 Measurement of Race by the U.S. Government
Pages 205-222
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 205... ...
Race and ethnicity statistics are used in important and politically sensitive areas, such as the enforcement of civil rights and antidiscrimination laws, and determination of voting districts. For example, state legislatures rely on census race and ethnicity data for geographic areas as small as individual blocks to ensure representation of black and other nonwhite voters within the new boundaries of voting districts that are revised every 10 years.
|
From page 206... ...
We then discuss some of the issues involved in interpreting and using the new multiple-race data and briefly review research under way in the federal statistical system to resolve those issues. Finally, we make recommendations for continued collection of data on race and ethnicity with categories that are responsive to changing concepts of race among groups in the U.S.
|
From page 207... ...
, the number of racial categories continued to grow, and by 1990 there were 15 separate categories plus a separate question with four categories for Hispanic origin (Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, other Hispanic)
|
From page 208... ...
. As it became clear that some groups within the population, especially disadvantaged racial groups, continued to be counted less accurately than others, increasing attention was focused on the problems caused by the differential undercount of these populations and how to overcome those problems.3 STANDARDS FOR THE COLLECTION OF RACE AND ETHNICITY DATA The 1977 OMB Standards Because of the need for consistent data based on uniform definitions for use in connection with civil rights legislation and monitoring of equal treatment, as well as for other public policy uses of race/ethnicity data, in 1977 OMB developed and issued to federal statistical agencies a set of standards for the collection of such data (Nobles, 2000)
|
From page 209... ...
Other groups, worried about the use of racial categories as the basis for antidiscriminatory action, feared that use of a multiracial category would dilute data needed for the nation's civil rights programs (Anderson and Fienberg, 2000; U.S. Office of Management and Budget, 1997)
|
From page 210... ...
in which a question on whether respondents were or were not Hispanic or Latino was followed by a separate question on race, the inclusion of a multiracial category in the race question had little effect on the percentage identifying themselves as Hispanic -- 10.79 percent reported Hispanic origin when there was no multiracial category in the race question, as compared with 10.41 percent who reported Hispanic origin when the race question included a multiracial category. · In the two test panels of 15,000 respondents each in which Hispanic, Latino, or "of Spanish origin" was included as a racial category instead of as a separate ethnicity question, smaller percentages reported Hispanic origin -- 7.5 percent identified themselves as Hispanic when there was no mul
|
From page 211... ...
The fact that respondents could select a multiracial category had little effect on other racial categories, with the American Indian/Alaskan Native group as a possible exception. Although no firm conclusions could be drawn from this test about preference for the use of the term African American rather than black or for Native American rather than American Indian, a sizable minority of each group preferred those terms (Tucker and Kojetin, 1996)
|
From page 212... ...
First, five racial categories were to be used in measuring race: black or African American, white, Asian, American Indian and Alaskan Native, and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. Second, there was a requirement that respondents be permitted to select more than one race.
|
From page 213... ...
. These results demonstrate the remarkable increase in the country's racial diversity, both because the white population has not increased as rap TABLE 10-1 Race and Hispanic Origin Population in the United States, 2000 Percent of Race and Hispanic or Latino Origin Number Total Population Race Total population 281,421,906 100.0 One race 274,595,678 97.6 White 211,460,626 75.1 Black or African American 34,658,190 12.3 American Indian and Alaskan Native 2,475,956 0.9 Asian 10,242,998 3.6 Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 398,835 0.1 Some other race 15,359,073 5.5 Two or more races 6,826,228 2.4 Hispanic or Latino Origin Total population 281,421,906 100.0 Hispanic or Latino 35,305,818 12.5 Not Hispanic or Latino 246,116,088 87.5 SOURCE: Data from U.S.
|
From page 214... ...
. This result suggests that many Hispanics do not identify with the census racial categories and underscores the need for more research on how to measure racial identification more accurately, especially for the Hispanic population.
|
From page 215... ...
even when corrected for differences in coverage (see Table 10-2) .5 The C2SS found slightly more whites and Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders than did the census and somewhat smaller estimates of multiple races as well as for the "other race" category.
|
From page 216... ...
In addition, those who select multiple racial categories in the HIS are asked to indicate which of those races "would best represent your race." These data will be especially useful to the statistical system for understanding issues of data presentation and development of multiracial historical series. Ongoing Research The Census Bureau and BLS continue to plan and carry out research designed to study issues associated with the collection of data on race and ethnicity.
|
From page 217... ...
to be: White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaskan Native, Asian, or Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander." Cooperative efforts are also under way among the statistical agencies to agree on the wording of race and ethnicity questions to achieve uniformity across most of the government surveys. ISSUES IN THE REPORTING OF DATA ON MULTIPLE RACES Because of the new OMB standard on enumerating the multiracial population, government statistical agencies must address a number of issues.
|
From page 218... ...
. Rules for Combining Multiracial Data for Civil Rights Cases OMB Bulletin 00-02 lists the five single-race categories and four additional multiracial categories -- American Indian or Alaskan Native and white, Asian and white, black or African American and white, and American Indian or Alaskan Native and black or African American.
|
From page 219... ...
BJS believes that samples of criminal events collected in the Crime Victimization Survey are far too small to warrant separate publication of multiracial data, although the bureau intends to collect such data. It is unlikely, therefore, that the socioeconomic aspects of the multiracial categories will achieve much prominence for some time to come.7 7Each of these surveys has a different sample design and somewhat different use of interviewers and telephone responses.
|
From page 220... ...
BLS has arranged for all respondents to the National Longitudinal Survey to be asked the race question a second time in order to obtain data for the same people using the old and new racial categories. BLS has also undertaken research to use information collected in special supplements to the CPS to introduce a CPS historical series in 2003, using population weights for both 1990 and 2000.
|
From page 221... ...
If there are coverage or estimation errors in the population weights, the data from the surveys will reflect those errors. Methods for developing population counts are especially complex because the Census Bureau must develop these controls not just for the country as a whole but also for states and, for some surveys, for a number of individual areas, some of them quite small.
|
From page 222... ...
. Even so, in many federal government surveys -- including the census, from which the country's most comprehensive data on race and ethnicity are developed -- the household member who responds to the questions identifies the race and ethnicity of all members of the household.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.