Racial Identities, Racial Beliefs: Expanding the Toolbox on How to Collect and Communicate Data on Race, Ethnicity, and Disparities

Abstract Information: In order for researchers to support historically underserved populations, we must “amplify” and “empower” their voices. Doing so requires understanding participants’ conceptions of race and how such conceptions interact with interventions designed to improve their outcomes. For example, participants may be unwiling to share beliefs that run counter to the culture’s social bias (i.e., state racist beliefs) or may be unwilling to engage in a survey that overlooks their racial identity. While evaluation designs that honor and collect racial identity and cultural consciousness are gaining traction in the field (e.g., culturally responsive and equitable evaluation designs (CREE)), methods that capture 1) the nuances of individual’s identities, and 2) racial biases and racism continues to be an ongoing conversation. Taken from the fields of education and health, this panel contributes to that dialogue by considering ways expand the evaluator’s toolbox by providing three ways to understand racial categories and beliefs. The first paper describes a qualitative study with survey experts to offer practices on how to engage with underserved groups to ensure their inclusion aligns with their self-identity. The second paper quantitatively discusses a technique and typology to unearth participants’ perceptions of race within healthcare systems. The final paper offers a qualitative interview method that relies on elicitation techniques to surface people’s conceptions of race in the higher education context. Together, this session offers tools to evaluators to investigate how race intersects with strategies to change the common narrative.