Discussion: View Thread

Dear Colleagues,

Apologies for cross-postings. Myself and a group of colleagues are doing a
cross-cultural research project. In this project, we will be giving
questionnaires to MBA through the world. We would like to ask a number of
demographic questions. These questions might include the list below. If
you have some experience with asking these types of questions, we would
very much appreciate your advice.

Please indicate your:

1. Nationality __________________ (We would then code this open
response data into categories.)
2. Country of Birth _________________________
3. Country in which you spent the most years until the age of 15
__________________
4. Country in which you currently live and work
_____________________________
5. What is your race/ethnic category? Please circle the appropriate
response.
• White
• Black
• Hispanic
• American Indian
• Asian
• Mixed Race
• Others, please specify ________________
•


6. Please indicate the industry in which you work currently or in
which you worked most recently.
A. Agriculture, hunting, forestry, fishing  1
B. Energy and water  2
C. Chemical products; extraction and processing of non-energy minerals  3
D. Metal manufacturing; mechanical, electrical and instrument engineering;
office and data processing machinery  4
E. Other manufacturing, (eg food, drink and tobacco; textiles; clothing;
paper, printing & publishing; processing of rubber and plastics, etc)  5
F. Building and civil engineering  6
G. Retail and distribution; hotels; catering; repairs  7
H. Transport & communication (eg rail, postal services, telecoms, etc)  8
I. Banking; finance; insurance; business services (eg consultancies, PR
and advertising, Law firms, etc)  9
J. Personal, domestic, recreational services  10
K. Health services  11
L. Other services (eg television and radio, R&D, charities, etc) 
12
M. Education (including universities and further education)  13
N. Social Services  14
O. Public administration  15
P. Other, please specify

Dear Jacqueline,

Just a few suggestions:
- In line with your first three questions you might want to change question
5 to "race/ethnic category_________________".
- In case you wish to send these questions to MBA students worldwide you
might want to make the race/ethnic category list a little more exhaustive to
ensure that it applies to individuals outside of US.
- Question no. 6 is a double barrel question. A lot of MBAs j switch lines
and the line they currently are working in and they most recently worked in
may be different. You might want to give to options for answer in this
category to get at this. Alternatively, you can break it down into two
questions.

Hope this helps!

Warm regards,

Sheetal Singh
Ph.D. Candidate, Organizational Behavior
Robert H. Smith School of Business,
University of Maryland,
College Park, MD-20742
Mobile: 202 330 7069
email: ssingh@rhsmith.umd.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: Organizational Behavior Division Listserv
[mailto:OB@AOMLISTS.pace.edu] On Behalf Of Jacqueline Power
Sent: Sunday, September 30, 2007 5:50 PM
To: OB@AOMLISTS.pace.edu
Subject: Demographic Questions: Race/Ethnicity etc.

Dear Colleagues,

Apologies for cross-postings. Myself and a group of colleagues are doing a
cross-cultural research project. In this project, we will be giving
questionnaires to MBA through the world. We would like to ask a number of
demographic questions. These questions might include the list below. If
you have some experience with asking these types of questions, we would
very much appreciate your advice.

Please indicate your:

1. Nationality __________________ (We would then code this open
response data into categories.)
2. Country of Birth _________________________
3. Country in which you spent the most years until the age of 15
__________________
4. Country in which you currently live and work
_____________________________
5. What is your race/ethnic category? Please circle the appropriate
response.
. White
. Black
. Hispanic
. American Indian
. Asian
. Mixed Race
. Others, please specify ________________
.


6. Please indicate the industry in which you work currently or in
which you worked most recently.
A. Agriculture, hunting, forestry, fishing  1
B. Energy and water  2
C. Chemical products; extraction and processing of non-energy minerals
 3
D. Metal manufacturing; mechanical, electrical and instrument engineering;
office and data processing machinery  4
E. Other manufacturing, (eg food, drink and tobacco; textiles; clothing;
paper, printing & publishing; processing of rubber and plastics, etc)
 5
F. Building and civil engineering  6
G. Retail and distribution; hotels; catering; repairs  7
H. Transport & communication (eg rail, postal services, telecoms, etc)
 8
I. Banking; finance; insurance; business services (eg consultancies, PR
and advertising, Law firms, etc)  9
J. Personal, domestic, recreational services  10
K. Health services  11
L. Other services (eg television and radio, R&D, charities, etc)

12
M. Education (including universities and further education)  13
N. Social Services  14
O. Public administration  15
P. Other, please specify

Jacqueline, in addition to other comments regarding your questionnaire items, the EEOC now recommends that "Hispanic" be separated from "races," since "Hispanic" refers to an ethnic category that can include "races." For example, a number of Hispanics are also Black. I'm not sure the appropriate way to word this given you are surveying an international population, but it may be something you should consider.

Best wishes.

Nancy E. Day
Associate Professor, Human Resources & Organizational Behavior
HW Bloch School - University of Missouri - Kansas City
5110 Cherry
Kansas City, Missouri 64110
816-235-2333
816-235-6506 (fax)
dayn@umkc.edu

"The best thing for being sad," replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow,
is to learn something. That's the only thing that never fails. You may
grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night
listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you
may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honor
trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then-
to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing
which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by,
never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the only
thing for you."

T.H. White, The Once and Future King



________________________________

From: Organizational Behavior Division Listserv on behalf of Jacqueline Power
Sent: Sun 9/30/2007 4:49 PM
To: OB@AOMLISTS.pace.edu
Subject: Demographic Questions: Race/Ethnicity etc.



Dear Colleagues,

Apologies for cross-postings. Myself and a group of colleagues are doing a
cross-cultural research project. In this project, we will be giving
questionnaires to MBA through the world. We would like to ask a number of
demographic questions. These questions might include the list below. If
you have some experience with asking these types of questions, we would
very much appreciate your advice.

Please indicate your:

1. Nationality __________________ (We would then code this open
response data into categories.)
2. Country of Birth _________________________
3. Country in which you spent the most years until the age of 15
__________________
4. Country in which you currently live and work
_____________________________
5. What is your race/ethnic category? Please circle the appropriate
response.
* White
* Black
* Hispanic
* American Indian
* Asian
* Mixed Race
* Others, please specify ________________
*


6. Please indicate the industry in which you work currently or in
which you worked most recently.
A. Agriculture, hunting, forestry, fishing  1
B. Energy and water  2
C. Chemical products; extraction and processing of non-energy minerals  3
D. Metal manufacturing; mechanical, electrical and instrument engineering;
office and data processing machinery  4
E. Other manufacturing, (eg food, drink and tobacco; textiles; clothing;
paper, printing & publishing; processing of rubber and plastics, etc)  5
F. Building and civil engineering  6
G. Retail and distribution; hotels; catering; repairs  7
H. Transport & communication (eg rail, postal services, telecoms, etc)  8
I. Banking; finance; insurance; business services (eg consultancies, PR
and advertising, Law firms, etc)  9
J. Personal, domestic, recreational services  10
K. Health services  11
L. Other services (eg television and radio, R&D, charities, etc) 
12
M. Education (including universities and further education)  13
N. Social Services  14
O. Public administration  15
P. Other, please specify