When Race and Hispanic Origin Reporting are Discrepant across Administrative Records Sources: Exploring Methods to Assign Responses - ARCHIVED

The U.S. Census Bureau is researching uses of administrative records in survey and decennial operations in order to reduce costs and respondent burden while preserving data quality. One potential use of administrative records is to utilize the data when race and Hispanic origin responses are missing. When federal and third party administrative records are compiled, race and Hispanic origin responses are not always the same for an individual across different administrative records sources. We explore different sets of business rules used to assign one race and one Hispanic response when these responses are discrepant across sources. We also describe the characteristics of individuals with matching, non-matching, and missing race and Hispanic origin data across several demographic, household, and contextual variables. We find that minorities, especially Hispanics, are more likely to have non-matching Hispanic origin and race responses in administrative records than in the 2010 Census. Hispanics are less likely to have missing Hispanic origin data but more likely to have missing race data in administrative records. Non-Hispanic Asians and non-Hispanic Pacific Islanders are more likely to have missing race and Hispanic origin data in administrative records. Younger individuals, renters, individuals living in households with two or more people, individuals who responded to the census in the nonresponse follow-up operation, and individuals residing in urban areas are more likely to have non-matching race and Hispanic origin responses.