Race and Hispanic Origin Data: A Comparison of Results from the Census 2000 Supplementary Survey and Census 2000

• 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): Claudette Bennett*+ and Elizabeth Grieco+ and Deborah Harner Griffin
• Affiliation(s): U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Census Bureau
• Keywords: Race ; American Community Survey ; Hispanic origin ; 2000 decennial census ; Census 2000 Supplementary Survey ; Mode

Abstract

While conducting the 2000 decennial census, the Census Bureau also conducted the Census 2000 Supplementary Survey (C2SS)--a test to assess the feasibility of replacing the census long form with the American Community Survey. The C2SS included a sample of over 700,000 households nationwide. Three different modes--mail, telephone, and personal visit interviews were used to collect these data. In order to evaluate American Community Survey methods and better understand potential differences between results from the census long form and the American Community Survey, C2SS data are being compared to Census 2000 data. In March 2001, the Census Bureau released general demographic data based on Census 2000. Included in this release were detailed tables on race and Hispanic origin. Similar tables from the C2SS were released in July of 2001. Striking differences were noted between the race data from Census 2000 and the C2SS, especially for persons reporting as Hispanics and reporting more than one race. This paper summarizes these final edited results, highlighting these differences. The paper outlines the specific methods used in the C2SS and in Census 2000.