Abstract
In the 1980 Census Americans were asked for the first time to report their ancestry. Unlike the question on race, an open-ended query was used for this purpose. The use of this type of question presumably allowed persons the freedom to report any ethnic group they wished (although some responses were disallowed by the Census Bureau). In 1990, when an open-ended question was asked a second time, the number and proportion of some groups in the population (e.g., English, French) showed marked declines, whereas for other groups (e.g., French Canadian, Slovak) remarkable increases occurred. This study analyzes the effect the wording of the census question in each period, in particular the listing of examples of ancestry groups, may have had on answers received. The results suggest that many respondents are influenced by the manner in which the Census Bureau lists ethnic groups.
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