This report presents preliminary results of testing alternative versions of the questions on race and Hispanic origin in the 1996 National Content Survey (NCS),1/ conducted by the Bureau of the Census as part of its Census 2000 research and testing program. The principal test of questions on race and ethnicity in this program is, however, the 1996 Race and Ethnic Targeted Test (RAETT), also known as the 1996 Census Survey. Findings from the RAETT will be available in the Spring of 1997. The results from both the NCS and the RAETT will be considered in developing questions that will be included in Census 2000. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and its Interagency Committee for the Review of Racial and Ethnic Standards will also consider the NCS findings in their review of the Federal standards for the classification of data on race and ethnicity set forth in Statistical Policy Directive No. 15, Race and Ethnic Standards for Federal Statistics and Administrative Reporting.

The NCS, which was conducted from March through June 1996, is the primary vehicle for testing and evaluating the full subject content for Census 2000. Because the results are based on the responses from the households in the national sample that mailed back their questionnaires, the results do not represent the entire national population.

Furthermore, the NCS sample was not designed to detect possible effects of different treatments on relatively small population groups, such as American Indians and Alaska Natives, detailed Asian and Pacific Islander groups (such as Chinese or Hawaiians), or detailed Hispanic origin groups (such as Puerto Ricans or Cubans). In contrast, the RAETT was designed to provide findings for such small population groups. The RAETT, conducted from June through September 1996, focused exclusively on testing and evaluating possible changes to the questions on race and ethnicity 2/ for Census 2000, and to the classifications set forth in OMB Statistical Policy Directive No. 15.

This report focuses on the effects that the following three treatments tested in the NCS have on how people report race and Hispanic origin. The treatments are:

• Adding a multiracial response category in the race question;
• Placing the Hispanic origin question immediately before the race question; and
• Combining both of these changes.

More detailed findings on these and other issues on race and Hispanic origin covered in the NCS (such as preferred terminology) will be available from the Census Bureau by writing to Population Division, Bureau of the Census, Washington, DC 20233-8800.