NHIS

Annotated Bibliography

This bibliography contains selected citations for articles on various topics related to race and Hispanic origin. Topics covered include: federal standards for collecting race and Hispanic origin data, information on NHIS survey design and estimation, editing and data processing information for NHIS data, and methodological issues related to the collection of race and Hispanic origin data.

Standards for the collection of racial and ethnic data in federal statistical systems

References 1-4 are the citations for the 1977 OMB race standards (known as OMB Directive 15), the recommendations for the revisions to the standards, the final revised standards, and the provisional guidelines for the implementation of the revised standards.

  1. Office of Management and Budget. Standards and guidelines for federal statistics: race and ethnic standards for federal statistics and administrative reporting. Federal Register, 1977; Circular No A48, Section 7H, Exhibit F.
  2. Office of Management and Budget. Recommendations from the interagency committee for the review of the racial and ethnic standards to the Office of Management and Budget concerning changes to the standards for the classification of federal data on race and ethnicity. Federal Register, 1997; 62(131): 36874-36946.
  3. Office of Management and Budget. Revisions to the standards for the classification of federal data on race and ethnicity. Federal Register, 1997; 62(210): 58782-58790.
  4. Office of Management and Budget. Provisional Guidance on the Implementation of the 1997 Standards for Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity (December 15, 2000)

NHIS Survey Design, Sample Design, and Estimation

References 5-7 provide detailed information on the survey design for the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), covering the survey years 1973-2004. Reference 5 also covers the procedures implemented for the NHIS from 1973-1983. References 6 and 7 include information on the procedures used to oversample the black and Hispanic populations.

  1. Kovar MG, Poe GS. The National Health Interview Survey Design, 1973-1984, and Procedures, 1975-1983. Vital and Health Statistics 1(18), 1985.
  2. Massey JT, Moore TF, Parsons VL, Tadros W. Design and estimation for the National Health Interview Survey, 1985-1994. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital Health Stat 2(110). 1989.
  3. Botman SL, Moore TF, Moriarity CL, Parsons VL. Design and estimation for the National Health Interview Survey, 1995-2004. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital Health Stat 2(130). 2000.

Editing/data processing procedures and file documentation for the National Health Interview Survey

References 8-13 provide the edit specifications and file layout for the 1982, 1992, and 1995 NHIS data years. These data years represent points at which major changes to the race and Hispanic origin items were implemented in the survey instrument, including asking about race and Hispanic origin for all household members (1982), addition of Asian and Pacific Islander population subgroups (1992), and placement of the race and Hispanic origin questions in the Household Composition section of the questionnaire (1995).

  1. National Center for Health Statistics (1983). Computer Processing Procedures Calendar Year 1982, Volume 1 of 2 (Edit specifications), National Health Interview Survey, 1982. National Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville, MD. (Producer). National Technical Information Service, U.S. Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA. 22161. (Distributor)
  2. National Center for Health Statistics (1983). Computer Processing Procedures Calendar Year 1982, Volume 2 of 2 (Tape Formats), National Health Interview Survey, 1982. National Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville, MD. (Producer). National Technical Information Service, U.S. Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA. 22161. (Distributor)
  3. National Center for Health Statistics (1993). Computer Processing Procedures Calendar Year 1992, Volume 1 of 2 (Edit specifications), National Health Interview Survey, 1992. National Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville, MD. (Producer). National Technical Information Service, U.S. Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA. 22161. (Distributor)
  4. National Center for Health Statistics (1993). Computer Processing Procedures Calendar Year 1992, Volume 2 of 2 (Tape formats), National Health Interview Survey, 1992. National Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville, MD. (Producer). National Technical Information Service, U.S. Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA. 22161. (Distributor)
  5. National Center for Health Statistics (1996). Computer Processing Procedures Calendar Year 1995, Volume 1 of 2 (Edit specifications), National Health Interview Survey, 1995. National Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville, MD. (Producer). National Technical Information Service, U.S. Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA. 22161. (Distributor)
  6. National Center for Health Statistics (1996). Computer Processing Procedures Calendar Year 1995, Volume 2 of 2 (Tape formats), National Health Interview Survey, 1995. National Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville, MD. (Producer). National Technical Information Service, U.S. Department of Commerce, Springfield, VA. 22161. (Distributor)

Race and ethnicity data collection in the National Health Interview Survey

References 14-17 describe much of the rationale used to develop the race and Hispanic origin questions in the NHIS, as well as some of the research that led to wording changes for these questionnaire items.

  1. Moy C. Determining ethnic origin in an interview survey: problems and recommendations. Public Health Reports, 1977; 92(5): 412-420.
  2. Massey JT. Using interviewer observed race and respondent reported race to adjust interview survey results. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Statistical Association, August, 1980.
  3. Drury TF, Moy CS, Poe GS. Going beyond interview observations of race in the National Health Interview Survey. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Statistical Association, August, 1980.
  4. Wilson R, Danchik K. A comparison of “other than white” and “black” data from the National Center for Health Statistics. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Statistical Association, August, 1980.

Race and ethnicity data collection in health data systems (other than the NHIS)

References 18-20 provide information on race and Hispanic origin data collection procedures in other federal health data systems.

  1. Buehler JW, Stroup DF, Klaucke DN, et. al. The reporting of race and ethnicity in the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System. Public Health Reports, 1989; 194(5): 457-464.
  2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Reporting race and ethnicity data – national electronic telecommunications system for surveillance, 1994-1997. MMWR, 1999; 48(15): 305-312.
  3. Arday SL, Arday DR, Monroe S, et. al. HCFA’s racial and ethnic data: current accuracy and recent improvements. Health Care Financing Review, 2000; 21(41): 1-10.

U.S. Bureau of the Census publications

  1. Jones NA, Smith AS. The two or more races population: 2000. A Census 2000 brief. U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, U.S. Census Bureau, 2001; 1-10.
  2. Special Population Statistics, Population Division. Findings on questions on race and Hispanic origin test in the 1996 National Content Survey. Population Division Working paper No. 16, 1996. U.S. Bureau of the Census.
  3. Greico EM, Cassidy RC. Overview of race and Hispanic origin: Census 2000 brief. U.S. Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, U.S. Census Bureau, 2001; 1-11.

Methodological issues associated with collecting racial and ethnic data

  1. Durch JS, Madans JH. Methodological issues for vital rates and populations estimates: The 1997 OMB standards for data on race and ethnicity. National Center for Health Statistics. Vital Health Stat 4(31). 2001.
  2. McKenney NR, Bennett CE. Issues regarding data on race and ethnicity: the Census Bureau experience. Public Health Reports, 1994; 109(1): 16-25.
  3. Division of Program Statistics, Indian Health Service. Methodology for adjusting IHS mortality data for inconsistent classification of race-ethnicity of American Indians and Alaska Natives between state death certificates and HIS patient registration records. Indian Health Service, 1996.
  4. Cantor D, Kerwin J. Race reporting on birth records by multiracial women: an evaluation of question format alternatives. Unpublished contractor report from Westat, Contract #200-95-7016.
  5. Martin EA, DeMaio TJ, Campanelli PC. Context effects for Census measures of race and Hispanic origin. Public Opinion Quarterly, 1990; 54:551-566.
  6. Bates N, Martin EA, DeMaio TJ, et. al. Questionnaire effects on measurements of race and Spanish origin. Journal of Official Statistics, 1995; 11(4): 433-459.
  7. Cantor D, Kerwin J. Schechter S. Testing options to allow reports of more than one race on birth records. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Statistical Association August, 1997.
  8. Tucker C, Kojetin B. Testing racial and ethnic origin questions in the CPS supplement. Monthly Labor Review, September 1996; 3-7.
  9. McKay RB, de la Puente M. Cognitive testing of racial and ethnic questions for the CPS supplement. Monthly Labor Review, September 1996; 8-12.

Race bridging methodology

  1. Parker JD, Schenker N, Ingram DD, Weed JA, Heck KE, Madans JH. Bridging between two standards for collecting information on race and ethnicity: an application to Census 2000 and vital rates. Public Health Rep. 2004 Mar-Apr;119(2):192-205.
  2. Schenker N, Parker JD. From single-race reporting to multiple-race reporting: using imputation methods to bridge the transition. Stat Med. 2003 May 15;22(9):1571-87.
  3. Ingram DD, Parker JD, Schenker N, Weed JA, Hamilton B, Arias E, Madans JH. United States Census 2000 population with bridged race categories. Vital Health Stat 2. 2003 Sep;(135):1-55.
  4. Parker JD, Makuc DM. Methodologic implications of allocating multiple-race data to single-race categories. Health Serv Res. 2002 Feb;37(1):203-15.

Race/ethnicity classification and health

  1. Atkinson JO, MacDorman MF, Parker JD. Trends in births to parents of two different races in the United States. Ethnicity and Disease, 2001; 11: 273-285.
  2. Sondik EJ, Lucas JW, Madans JH, Smith SS. Race/ethnicity and the 2000 census: implications for public health. Am J Public Health. 2000 Nov; 90(11):1709-13.
  3. Kelly JJ, Chu SY, Diaz T., et. al. Race/ethnicity misclassification of persons reported with AIDS. Ethnicity and Health, 1996; 1(1): 87-94.
  4. Frost F, Shy KK. Racial differences between linked birth and infant death records in Washington State. American Journal of Public Health, 1980; 70(9): 974-976.

Multiple race reporting

  1. Parker JD, Madans JH. The correspondence between interracial births and multiple-race reporting. Am J Public Health. 2002 Dec;92(12):1976-81.
  2. Parker JD, Lucas JB. Multiple race reporting for children in a national health survey. Ethn Dis. 2000 Spring-Summer;10(2):262-74.
  3. Bennett CE, McKenney NR, Harrison RJ. Racial classification issues concerning children in mixed-race households. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America, April 1995.

Page last reviewed: November 6, 2015