Why do surveys ask if you are hispanic

But surveying Hispanics is complicated for many reasons — language barriers, sampling issues and cultural differences — that are the subject of a growing field of inquiry. In fact, studies have shown that Hispanics are more likely to refuse to participate in surveys, or having agreed to take a survey, more likely to refuse to answer individual questions under some circumstances.

This disproportionate refusal rate may in part be driven by a general suspicion of government or a more specific fear of deportation among subgroups of the U. Hispanic population, including unauthorized immigrants. Introductory language at the start of the questionnaire that stresses the random selection of the respondent and confidentiality of responses can help to mitigate this risk, though experience suggests it will not mitigate it entirely.

One other key factor to consider when planning a survey of U. Conducting a survey in multiple languages is complicated, but necessary to capture a sample that is representative of the U. Typically, it is difficult to translate a survey question exactly to capture meaning and nuance. There are two possible goals when it comes to survey translation.

One advocates for translating the words of the question as faithfully and literally as possible so that all respondents will hear the same question, regardless of language. The other , used by Pew Research Center in most cases, strives for equivalence in the meaning of the question — taking cultural differences into account, the goal being to translate the question so that all respondents will understand it in the same way.

Some common terms in English-language surveys are unfamiliar in other cultures or cannot be translated precisely. This is also an example of translating within a cultural context rather than literally. In survey research, small wording changes can have big impacts and the impact of some of these inexact translations is not known.

Other cultural issues exist as well — for example , the choice between formal and informal pronouns to address the respondent is not an issue in English, but it must be considered in a Spanish translation because customs about formality and respect differ across Hispanic cultures. In addition, Hispanics interpret some concepts and question wordings differently than others. They tend to include spiritual and social well-being as well as medical conditions when rating their own health. The net effect is that Hispanics and Spanish-speaking Hispanics in particular rate their health poorly in comparison with non-Hispanic whites.

Yet, paradoxically, Hispanics score better than non-Hispanic whites on many objective public health measures such as mortality rates and low birth weights, and foreign-born Hispanics, as a group, are healthier than their U. They are also more likely on average to give responses they perceive as more socially desirable in response to sensitive questions, including questions about voting habits, ethical decisions and undesirable feelings toward others this is true to a lesser extent among all Americans.

This should be structured as a radio button question, but you can choose the age ranges that you provide in each option. For example, these answer options encompass a pretty broad range of ages:. Another option is to simply ask your respondents for the year in which they were born using a text box question. If you go with this question type, be sure to include data validation to ensure real years are entered.

If you choose to include this type of question, be sure to ask about race and ethnicity separately. Follow the lead set by the U. Census Bureau and other government institutions when using this demographic question. Stick with a checkbox question for this one so that respondents can choose multiple options if they identify as a member of multiple races.

Including an open text box at the end of the question will allow for write-in options too. Like questions about race and ethnicity, demographic questions about sex and gender should be respectful and nuanced. If you know you need this data in set categories to aid in data analysis, you can still create respectful categories without overwhelming respondents. We suggest a radio button question like this although what works for your particular audience may differ slightly :.

The options for this question may seem less nebulous than questions about racial or sexual identity, but romantic relationships are often deeply complicated. If you do want to segment based on this data, the best practice is to phrase the question as follows:.

If you anticipate that many respondents will still be in school, be sure to include instructions that cover that situation. What is the highest degree or level of school you have completed? Employment information can be broken down into multiple different questions that cover employment status, hours worked, employer type, and professional status, but the most commonly asked question is simply whether or not someone is employed.

For example, such information helps us learn whether people in one group are more or less likely to have health insurance coverage or access to health care services than people in another group. In turn, this information helps policymakers better understand how to improve the health care system. What happens when respondents feel uncomfortable about questions on race and Hispanic origin?

Since race and Hispanic origin information is very important to our understanding of the health data we collect, we encourage respondents to report as much information as they are able and willing to give us. However, we understand that race and Hispanic origin are complex concepts and that some respondents may have difficulty answering these questions, including those who are reporting race and Hispanic origin for other members of the household i.

In the NHIS sample design, the final stage of the development of person-level weights for the NHIS includes procedures that ensure that NHIS estimates for approximately 88 age-sex-race-Hispanic origin categories are consistent with independent population estimates that are developed by the U. Bureau of the Census. These procedures require that each person in the NHIS sample have a valid response for age, sex, race, and Hispanic origin. Imputation flags are also available on the NHIS public use data file for users who wish to analyze unimputed race data.

Why have the names of NHIS race and Hispanic origin variables changed on the public use data files over the years?