Interviewers' Reported Behaviors in Collecting Race and Hispanic Origin Data

• Activity Number: 377
• Type: Topic Contributed
• Date/Time: Thursday, August 15, 2002 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
• Sponsor: Section on Survey Research Methods*
• Author(s): Laurel Schwede*+ and Leslie Theresa and Deborah Harner Griffin
• Affiliation(s): U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Census Bureau
• Keywords: Race ; Census 2000 ; Hispanic Origin ; Interviewer Behavior ; American Community Survey

Abstract

Hispanic origin and race have been problematic data elements in censuses and surveys for decades. Some groups have trouble with the concept of race, and this can lead to problems in data collection. These data are needed for monitoring and enforcing civil rights and allocating funding. Much of the considerable previous research has focused on observing and analyzing respondent behavior to improve question wording, formatting, and sequencing, and providing multiple response options. Few studies have focused on interviewer behavior when asking the Hispanic origin and race questions.

This paper presents qualitative and quantitative results on interviewers' anonymous reports of how they say they handle complex situations with the Hispanic origin and race questions. Data come from focus groups and a mailout survey of all Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS) field representatives. The paper looks at how interviewers report they handle situations (e.g., refusals, confusion, "some other race," and answering "Hispanic" to the race question) and how these behaviors might affect item nonresponse, the frequency of "some other race" responses, and the identification.