This project will investigate the following questions regarding the 1997 revisions to Statistical Policy Directive No. 15, Race and Ethnic Standards for Federal Statistics and Administrative Reporting, a revision of the federal standards for collecting data on race and ethnicity, to be adopted by all federal agencies working with race-based information:

• How will the perceived racial composition of nonmetropolitan areas change when analyzed in the context of mixed-race individuals and families?
• How will the introduction of multiple race categories influence comparisons between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas?
• What are the regional differences in the makeup of mixed-race households among nonmetropolitan areas?
• How will the transition to identifying multiple races for individuals affect programs important to rural health and rural health financing?
• How can longitudinal data be effectively bridged across the change in classification systems for analyzing rural health data?
• How might the new system hinder rural population analysis through data loss from confidentiality suppression and small cell size?

The research questions will be answered by reviewing policy briefs used in drafting the policy revisions, studying public documents associated with the testing of Census Bureau questionnaires, reviewing other published materials, interviews of healthcare providers and policy administrators, and analysis of national data files containing multiple race reporting.

Publications

• Impacts of Multiple Race Reporting on Rural Health Policy and Data Analysis
  North Carolina Rural Health Research and Policy Analysis Center
  Date: 05/2002
  The paper examines some of the impacts to rural health analysis of new federal policy that allows people to choose one or more race categories when classifying themselves.