FEB. 28, 2017 - The U.S. Census Bureau released the 2015 National Content Test Race and Ethnicity Analysis Report, which presents findings to the Census Bureau director and executive staff on the optimal design elements of the race/ethnicity question(s) as preparations continue for the 2020 Census.
The 2015 National Content Test is part of the research and development cycle leading up to a re-engineered 2020 Census. The test was designed to compare different questionnaire design strategies for race and ethnicity.
The findings from this research indicate that several designs performed well including:
* a combined question with detailed checkboxes;
* a dedicated “Middle Eastern or North African" response category;
* the new instructions to “Mark all that apply" (instruction wording for paper data collections) or to “Select all that apply" (instruction wording for Internet data collections); and
* the race/ethnicity terminology.
To learn more about the Census Bureau’s research on improving race/ethnicity data, see here.
No news release associated with this report. Tip Sheet only.
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Source: U.S. Department of Census Bureau
