Summary of Key Issues

• Summary of issues

There are numerous issues that need to be recognized in order to accurately assess the scope of the policy issue. These issues can be mostly attributed to a combined lack of consistency in the methodology of data collection and a lack consistency due to a poor general public education and understanding of the relevant concepts.

•  Defining ethnicity

The first major difficulty encountered in gathering accurate statistics for policy implementation and resource allocation is the definition of ethnicity itself.

• There is no one single concrete definition of ethnicity and definitions are constantly being revised.   
• StatisticsNew Zealandrecognizes ethnicity as a self-perceived characteristic, thus it is constantly changing as peoples perceptions change over time.

This is an issue of consistency and will continue to be a problem unless it is addressed.[1]

• Statistical consistency across government departments

Currently there is no one standardised form of ethnicity data collection across all government departments and key social sectors. Collection methods vary from sector to sector, with some being self-reported, whilst others are reported by the respective administrations of the social sectors and government institutes. This is an issue of consistency and should be of primary concern in any policy redesign.[2][3][4][5]

• Race, nationality or ethnicity?

Evidence suggests that there is often confusion among respondents in regards to the differences between ethnicity, race, and nationality. This is a public educational issue which needs to be addressed in order to alleviate inconsistent responses.[6][7]

•  Fictitious and non responses

A certain amount of people do not wish to answer the ethnicity question for various reasons and give fictitious responses or no response at all. This is an educational issue and needs to be addressed in order to limit such responses.[8]

• Public understanding of importance of ethnicity statistics

There is much evidence to suggest that not only do many New Zealanders not fully understand the concept of ethnicity, they are also unaware of the vital uses for such data. This again is an educational issue that should be addressed in order to achieve acceptable levels of consistency.[9]

•  Finding acceptable terminology

Problems also have arisen with certain terminology used in the collection of ethnicity data. The term ‘Pakeha’ received enough objections that it was subsequently removed as a categorization.[10]  The term Pacific Islander was replaced by ‘Pacific Peoples’ for similar reasons.[11] Any terminology that is deemed unacceptable by certain parties may cause future inconsistencies.[12] This is a consistency issue that has arisen and will continue to arise over time. Public engagement and education could potentially help alleviate this problem.

•  Ethnic Mobility

Ethnic groups and the way people perceive themselves in relation to these groups constantly changes over a time. This creates reoccurring consistency issues.[13] Both a better public understanding of the problem and an improved standardisation would help alleviate this problem.

•  The context of the question

Evidence shows that people will answer ethnicity questions differently depending on the context in which the question is presented to them. This again is a matter of both education and consistency.[14]