Question

I gave a group of participants a survey, asking what race/ethnicity they are.

In SPSS, I labeled 1=caucasian, 2=african american, 3=hispanic, 4= asian, and 5=other.

The participant answered: mixed/caucasian. Would I label them as 5=other or 1=caucasian since they only listed one distinct ethnicity? They said mixed rather than saying caucasian/african american or something like that; which they would then be assigned 5=other.

Answer 1

Race is associated with biology, whereas ethnicity is associated with culture. Race and ethnicity can obviously overlap, but they are distinct. For example, a Japanese-American would probably consider herself a member of the Japanese or East Asian race, but, if she doesn't engage in any of the practices or customs of her ancestors, she might not identify with the ethnicity, but might instead consider herself to be American.

The participant that answered mixed/caucasian will be labeled 1= caucasian.

Because s/he stated her/his race as mixed and ethnicity as caucasian.

So, we will place it under label 1.