Practica pedagógica

As noted previously, the National Identity and Cultural Diversity Survey asked respondents to identify their ethnic groups in two different ways: through an open question where respondents could write anything they liked, and through a closed question where respondents were asked to tick one or more boxes. I was interested to see whether the participants were consistent in their responses, or if the two questions drew out different responses.

A comparison of the open and closed ethnic group questions showed that the responses matched for 62.8% of the participants (n=460). In 28.6% of the cases, the responses to the open and closed questions were different (n=209). Sixty-three participants (8.6%) did not respond to one of the ethnic group questions, so a comparison for them was not possible. The responses were organised into one of six groups (see Table 6): (a) those who identified with a single ethnic group in the open question and the same single group in the closed question (54.4%), (b) those who identified with multiple ethnic groups in the open question and the same multiple groups in the closed question (8.5%), (c) those who identified with a single ethnic group in the open question and a different single group in the closed question (13.4%), (d) those who identified with a single ethnic group in the open question and multiple groups in the closed question (10.4%), (e) those who identified with multiple ethnic groups in the open question and a single group in the closed question (3.0%), and (f) those who identified with multiple ethnic groups in the open question and a somewhat different set of multiple groups in the closed question (1.8%).

Table 6: Comparison of responses to open and closed ethnic group questions

Open question response Closed question response Frequency Percent

Responses were the same Single Single 398 54.4% Multiple Multiple 62 8.5% Responses were different Single Single 98 13.4% Single Multiple 76 10.4% Multiple Single 22 3.0% Multiple Multiple 13 1.8% Missing 63 8.6% Total 732 100.0%

The first group gave very straightforward responses to the ethnic group questions, identifying with the same single ethnic group in both the open and closed versions. Likewise, respondents in the second group maintained the same multiple ethnic groups across the open and closed questions, thereby demonstrating a level of comfort and consistency with their multiple groups.

The third group, who gave different single ethnic groups in the open and closed questions, changed their ethnic groups between the two question types. The respondents appeared to have a variety of reasons for these differences. For example, Respondent #143 identified as “Thai” in the open question and selected New Zealand European in the closed question. When asked why he identified in this way, he said “I don’t know”. Both he and his parents were born in Thailand, and he had been living in New Zealand for two years. Respondent #143 appeared to be using the open ethnic group question to identify with his heritage and the closed question to identify with where he was now living.

Respondent #511 identified as “NZ Maori” in the open question. The reason she gave for this was “the people and what we can learn from them”. In the closed question she identified as Pākehā. She identified her mother and her father as both Māori and Pākehā. She appeared to be using the open question to identify with one of her ethnic groups, and the closed question to identify with the other group.

Respondent #423 identified as “Pacific” in the open question, and said that this was because of his “cultural heritage”. In the closed question he selected Other and specified “Kiribati”. Respondent #579 identified as “Asian” in the open question, “because I was born in Vietnam, a South East Asia country”. In the closed question she selected Other and specified

“Vietnamese”. Both Respondent #423 and Respondent #579 used the open question to identify with a broad, pan-ethnic group, and used the closed question to identify with a more specific ethnic group.

The fourth group of respondents displayed a tendency to identify with one ethnic group more strongly in the open question, but used the closed question to acknowledge connections to multiple ethnic groups. For example, Respondent #96 identified as “Maori” in the open question and said this was “because i am maori”. She selected New Zealand European, Pākehā, and Māori in the closed question. She identified both her mother and her father as New Zealand European, Pākehā, and Māori. Respondent #99 identified as

“European” in the open question, because of her “skin colour and the way i have been brought

up”. In the closed question she selected New Zealand European and Māori. She identified her mother as New Zealand European and Māori, and her father as Māori.

Some respondents in this fourth group used the open question to identify with a broad, pan- ethnic group, and used the closed question to explain the nuances and specifics of their identifications. For example, Respondent #673 identified as “Pacific Island” in the open question, and gave as the reason “well, I'm Tongan/Fiji Indian and I feel like I'm more of a

Islander. The reason why is because I know more of my island culture than my Indian culture”.

She selected Tongan and Indian in the closed question. She was born in New Zealand, while her mother was born in Tonga and her father was born in Fiji. She identified her mother as Tongan and her father as Indian.

In the fifth group, respondents stated multiple ethnic group identifications in the open question. They then used the closed question to narrow their identifications to one ethnic group. For example, Respondent #148 identified as “New Zealand European, English, Moari” in the open question. In explaining this identification, she stated “my background, influence through family. The fact that my dad was born in England makes me feel a connection to England. I also have Scottish, Irish and Bahamian heritage. On my mother's side, I have connections to the Ngati Awa iwi and am related to chief Warrior Wiremu Kingi. I have travelled to England many times and know a lot about my Maori heritage”. In the closed question, she only selected New Zealand European.

In the final group, respondents identified with multiple ethnic groups in the open and closed questions, but these groups were not exactly the same across the two question types. For example, Respondent #409 identified as “Niuean, Tongan, German, American Samaon,

English” in the open question, and reduced these to Samoan, Tongan, and Niuean in the

New Zealand, while his mother was born in Niue, and his father was born in Tonga. He stated his mother’s ethnic groups as Samoan and Niuean, and his father’s groups as Tongan, English and German. He used the open question to identify with each of his parents’ groups, and used the closed question to focus on the Pacific Islands groups while excluding the European groups. Respondent #784 identified as “NZ European/Maori” in the open question, because of “my Heritage”. In the closed question, he selected New Zealand European, Māori, and Other, specifying “Scottish Irish Welsh French”. He identified his mother as New Zealand European and Māori, and his father as New Zealand European. He also indicated that one of his parents had Scottish, Irish, Welsh and French heritage, but did not specify which parent. Respondent #784 used the open question to focus on two identities, and increased these in the closed ethnic group question. It seems likely that an interplay of ancestry (where the respondents are identifying with their parents’ ethnic groups) and experience and belonging (where the respondents are basing their ethnic groups on what they do and who they do it with) is at work in the participants’ responses in this sixth group.

Closed ethnicity questions that use pre-determined ethnic group categories are common in surveys and official data collection tools such as censuses, and therefore are familiar to many respondents. However, this type of question can also be problematic. The categories used in closed questions may use unfamiliar terminology or pan-ethnic groups that people would prefer not to use to describe their ethnic identities. As such, closed questions can be open to misinterpretation. Closed questions that do not allow people to tick more than one box, or that provide a limited list of pan-ethnic categories, also serve to hide multiplicity (Aspinall, 2012; Bonnett & Carrington, 2000; Stephan & Stephan, 2000a). Instead, several authors have advocated for the use of open ethnic group questions (for example, Aspinall, 2012; Bonnett & Carrington, 2000; Pringle & Rothera, 1996; Stephan & Stephan, 2000a). They argue that this type of question leads to more reliable responses that are more reflective of how participants actually feel about their ethnic identities.

The responses to the open and closed ethnic group questions in the National Identity and

Cultural Diversity Survey demonstrate that the way an ethnic group question is asked makes

a difference to the way people identify themselves. However, it cannot be assumed that an open question is going to gather the most accurate or complete picture of a person’s ethnic identity, as Aspinall (2012), Bonnett and Carrington (2000), Pringle and Rothera (1996), and Stephan and Stephan (2000a) argue. The findings from the present survey are more in keeping with Lopez’s (2003) research, who found that her respondents made different, but not necessarily discrepant responses to different ethnic group question types. Some

respondents to the National Identity and Cultural Diversity Survey used the open question to explain the nuances of their ethnic identities, while others used the closed question for the same purpose.

Nor is an open ethnic group question equivalent to a question about a person’s main or preferred ethnic group (Kukutai & Callister, 2009; Stephan & Stephan, 2000a). In the present survey, some respondents were using the open question to indicate a stronger identity, while others were using the closed question to indicate a stronger identity. Overall, the comparison of the open and closed questions shows that adolescents’ ethnic group responses can be quite fluid and changeable, even within one survey instrument.