About the project

Ethnicity is an important variable for accurately identifying patterns of privilege and bias, what is effective and for whom, and for mitigating inequities and social injustices. However, quantitative measurement of ethnicity is complex due to the fluid and subjective nature of ethnic identification, as well as increasing tendency to select multiple ethnic identifications. This research aims to utilise data from the Growing Up in New Zealand (GUiNZ) study to explore the stability/change in ethnic identification from pre-birth to 12 years, with a focus on how results change depending on the ethnic classification method used (total response grouping, single/combination grouping, administrative-prioritisation, and self-prioritisation).

The study will output child ethnicity data at pre-birth, 9 months, 4.5 years, 8 years, and 12 years by the four ethnic classification methods of interest. Longitudinal stability/change in ethnic identification according to each ethnic classification method will be examined using alluvial plots, and sequence analysis will be used to examine whether there are common trajectories of ethnic identification (e.g., relatively stable, relatively fluid, changes with informant [i.e., mother vs. child], etc.) for each ethnic classification method. The project will also explore the reasons behind self-prioritised ethnicity responses at age 12.

The intention of this study is to provide empirical information for applied researchers on the strengths, limitations, considerations, and implications of each ethnic classification method in the context of longitudinal analysis. Anticipated outputs include a peer-reviewed journal article and a conference presentation.

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Start date: 1/04/2024