The problem is that if you total up all the races and those who reported as Hispanic, you have double counted the Hispanics. It is therefor necessary to know how many people reported White, Black, etc., as well as how many reported White (non-Hispanic) and Black (non-Hispanic) etc. This problem gets worse if you try to compare Census Bureau data to data in a system that lists White, Black, American Indian, and Hispanic as choices under "race".
The Census Bureau approach is, in my opinion, much more logical and seems to be gaining acceptance as quickly as any standard. Cultural competence is not based on making people choose between what they see as components of their heritage.
The first half of your question is more a coding issue and based on the problem brought about by different systems having different lists of "races". It will be interesting to see the responses to that part of the question.
Dale Howe, Ph.D.
Grand Rapids, MI
In a message dated 5/1/2002 9:33:21 PM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
In the 834 addenda, page 14, there is a new code in the race/ethnicity
table - Z - mutually defined. Will someone please describe how this
value can be used?
Also what is the distinction between Black and Black (non-Hispanic),
and the distinction between Caucasian and White (non-Hispanic)? Are
these further described in another document?
Diana DeWeese
Illinois Dept of Human Services
Dale K. Howe, Ph.D.
Grand Rapids, MI, USA
