Re: census 2000
Barry Landeros-Thomas (bthomas@postoffice.chrr.ohio-state.edu)
Fri, 13 Aug 1999 13:20:41 -0400
As far as I know, the system is going to to one of self-identification,
which it has been for some time...all of the "Indian Princess" descendants
have already been doing that in previous census counts. The BIG difference
in this round is that people will finally be able to put down more than one
category (or indicate multi-racial), which bring with it a whole other
cadre of issues, questions, and concerns. For example, a multiracial
person will be able to indicate that they are white/black/and Native
instead of having to pick one or the ever-present "other" category. This
is good in that a more accurate demographic picture of the population is
possible...what is going to be the nightmare is the actual coding of the
raw data into a usable format with the nearly infinite possible
combinations. I pity the poor schlep (or schleps) that get stuck with that
task.
Just my $.02,
Barry R. Landeros-Thomas
921 Chatham Lane, Suite 200
Center for Human Resource Research
The Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio 43221-2418
Phone: (614) 442-7381
Fax: (614) 442-7329