Dissertation writing help - Factors that influence college students' Selections of federally enforced racial categories

Custom Dissertation Writing Service on racial statistics

The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate the meaning of racial statistics collected and used in higher education by exploring factors that control students' selections of federally enforced racial categories. Drawing from the literature of racial formation, racial identity development, and racial measurement, a survey instrument was prepared to collect data from 622 college student's atalarge Midwestern research university. Using the constant comparative method, ten factors were generated from students' short narrative responses that describe why they chose or did not choose certain racial categories. These factors reflect students' diverse life experiences and considerations, and either work jointly or independently to influence students' decisions on racial category selections. The first study that attempts to directly examine college students' explanations of their racial category selection, this research made methodological and theoretical contributions to the scholarship on racial measurement and racial identity development. It also challenges the conventional wisdom about the meaning of racial data collected and used in higher education by showing and classifying the great amount of complexity reflected in students' explanations of their racial category selection. It is hoped that this empirical study will provide insights for collecting, interpreting, reporting, and using racial data in a racially changing landscape of higher education.