Establishing the denominator : The challenges of measuring multiracial, Hispanic, and Native American populations

UBC Faculty Research and Publications

Establishing the denominator : The challenges of measuring multiracial, Hispanic, and Native American populations Roth, Wendy D.

Abstract

The norms for how multiracial, Hispanic, and Native American populations self-identify are less well established than for other population groups in the United States. There is considerable variation and fluidity in how these groups identify their race and ethnicity, as well as how they are classified by others. This presents challenges for estimating and analyzing these populations based on their self-identification alone. I argue that self-identification should be treated as a numerator, but the challenge is for researchers to establish the denominator – the population that could identify as members of the group based on their ancestry. Considering how many people who could identify with these groups choose to do so sheds light on assimilation and emerging racial classification processes. Analyses of the larger potential populations further avoid bias stemming from non-random patterns of self-identification with the groups.

Item Metadata

Title	Establishing the denominator : The challenges of measuring multiracial, Hispanic, and Native American populations
Creator	Roth, Wendy D.
Date Issued	2018-04-25
Description	The norms for how multiracial, Hispanic, and Native American populations self-identify are less well established than for other population groups in the United States. There is considerable variation and fluidity in how these groups identify their race and ethnicity, as well as how they are classified by others. This presents challenges for estimating and analyzing these populations based on their self-identification alone. I argue that self-identification should be treated as a numerator, but the challenge is for researchers to establish the denominator – the population that could identify as members of the group based on their ancestry. Considering how many people who could identify with these groups choose to do so sheds light on assimilation and emerging racial classification processes. Analyses of the larger potential populations further avoid bias stemming from non-random patterns of self-identification with the groups.
Subject	Race; Ethnicity; Measurement; Mixed race; Identity; Census; Statistics
Genre	Article; Postprint
Type	Text
Language	eng
Date Available	2018-06-06
Provider	Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
Rights	Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
DOI	10.14288/1.0368570
URI	http://hdl.handle.net/2429/66238
Affiliation	Arts, Faculty of; Sociology, Department of
Citation	Roth, Wendy D. 2018. “Establishing the Denominator: The Challenges of Measuring Multiracial, Hispanic, and Native American Populations.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 677(1): 48-56.
Publisher DOI	10.1177/0002716218756818
Peer Review Status	Reviewed
Scholarly Level	Faculty
Rights URI	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Aggregated Source Repository	DSpace

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