# Presentation: 080341

## The Effects of Questionnaire and Content Changes on Response to Race and Hispanic Origin Items: Results of a Replication of the 1990 Census Short Form in Census 2000

- Elizabeth Martin, Manuel de la Puente, and Claudette Bennett, U.S. Census Bureau, Washington, DC

## Outline of Presentation

- Objective
- Changes to the race and Hispanic origin questions
- The Alternative Questionnaire Experiment (AQE)
- Results

## Main Objective

- Evaluate the net effects of questionnaire and content changes on race and Hispanic origin reporting

## Key Changes to the Race and Hispanic Origin Questions

- Providing respondents with the option of reporting more than one race
- The sequence of the race and Hispanic origin items
- The format of the questionnaire and questions
- The race categories
- Question wording and terminology

## Slide 5

## Slide 6

## Key Changes to the Race and Hispanic Origin Questions

- Providing respondents with the option of reporting more than one race
- The sequence of the race and Hispanic origin items
- The format of the questionnaire and questions
- The race categories
- Question wording and terminology

## Slide 8

## Key Changes to the Race and Hispanic Origin Questions

- Providing respondents with the option of reporting more than one race
- The sequence of the race and Hispanic origin items
- The format of the questionnaire and questions
- The race categories
- Question wording and terminology

## Methodology

- 25,000 HH Census 2000 questionnaire
- 10,000 HH 1990-style questionnaire
- Sample stratified into two strata: low coverage areas (LCAs) and high coverage areas (HCA)

## Methodology

-  Return rates in HCAs was between 75% and 76%
- Return rates in LCAs was between 58% to almost 61%

## Limitations/Cautions

- Results are generalizable to the Census 2000 mail universe
- Sample size is limited
- Data used in the analysis are different from those in the 1990 and 2000 censuses due to editing

## Results: Item Nonresponse

- Item nonresponse for both Hispanic origin and race is significantly lower in the Census 2000 questionnaire
- Race item nonresponse is more salient for Hispanics than for non-Hispanics

## Results: Comparison of Racial Distributions

- No significant reduction in any of the five major single race categories
- More than one race reporting is significantly higher
- Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander is significantly higher
- Some other race reporting is significantly reduced

## Comparison of Racial Distributions: Hispanics

- Reporting in the White category is significantly higher
- Reporting in the some other race category is significantly lower
- Reporting more than one race significantly higher

## Comparison of Racial Distributions: Non-Hispanics

- Reporting in the White category is significantly lower
- Reporting in the Native Hawaiian & Other Pacific Islander is significantly higher
- Reporting more than one race is significantly higher

## Conclusions

- Questionnaire and content changes resulted in significant improvements in race and Hispanic origin reporting
- Multiple race reporting was significantly higher

## Conclusions

- However, the more than one race option did not result in significant reductions in single race reporting in any of the five major race categories
- Race reporting for Hispanics is easily influenced by questionnaire changes