About the GSS Harmonisation Team
The Government Statistical Service (GSS) Harmonisation team is based in the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The team:
- is responsible for creating and embedding the UK Government’s “harmonised standards” for all topics
- supports the harmonisation of data across the UK.
Our work involves providing bespoke advice and harmonised standards and guidance about how data on different topic areas should be collected and presented. The standards and guidance are designed to improve the consistency, coherence and comparability of statistics.
Producers of statistics use these harmonised standards as a starting point in their data collection process. By using harmonised standards, they can:
- align with other producers of statistics
- increase the usefulness of their statistics
- meet the Code of Practice for Statistics’ cross-cutting theme of coherence.
Harmonised standards also allow people to effectively and accurately compare data that has been collected across different datasets, including primary research data and the secondary use of administrative data for research purposes. This means we can more easily understand what those data do, and do not, tell us. This ensures that statistics are being used to their full effect for the public good. This work aligns with the 2021 report of the independent Inclusive Data Taskforce (IDTF), which recommended regular reviews of harmonised standards for relevant groups and populations, such as those with protected characteristics. Specifically, it aligns with the IDTF’s recommendations around ensuring people can recognise themselves and their circumstances in the UK’s data collection tools and processes.
Main points
- We are testing new iterations of an ethnic group question, including exploring alternative question designs. We are also reviewing the response options in the current standard and exploring potential additional tick-box response options.
- By improving the format of the question and increasing the availability of response options, our aim is that respondents will be able to record their ethnicity in a way that better aligns with how they describe themselves.
- This approach places the respondent at the centre while also aiming to overcome data collection and processing challenges faced by survey owners, data collectors (including administrative data collectors), and data processors alike.
- We are aiming to develop the new ethnicity harmonised standard with a cross-UK approach, creating one standard that is consistent and applicable across England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
There is no single definition of ethnicity. It is a multi-faceted and subjective concept. To make meaningful statistics, it is common for broad ethnic groups to be offered as response categories. People are then asked to decide for themselves which broader ethnic group aligns best with how they would identify themselves.
There are various possible ways of defining ethnic groups. Many different approaches have been used over time. These include measuring ethnicity using criteria such as:
- common ancestry and elements of culture
- identity
- language
- country of birth
- physical appearance.
Someone’s ethnicity is not a static concept. Ideas about what makes an ethnic group may change according to the context of social and political attitudes or developments. People can choose how they identify and define themselves when they are answering questions about ethnicity. Their answer might differ if they are asked the same question at different times or in different situations. It may also change if they are asked about their ethnicity for different purposes, or by different people. How someone chooses to identify can also change over their lifetime.
Latest activity
We set out our Discovery research and engagement activities for the review of the ethnicity harmonised standard, along with our findings from that work, in two reports last year (Phase 1 and Phase 2).
In the current, Alpha phase of our review of the ethnicity harmonised standard, new iterations of an ethnic group question are being tested to address the problems we identified in our Discovery phase. This includes exploring the acceptability of an alternative question design (such as multi-select designs) and assessing whether an alternative format better meets the data collection needs of users.
As part of that work, we are reviewing the response options in the current standard and exploring potential additional tick-box response options.
Benefits of additional tick-box response options
Our Discovery research and engagement highlights a number of reasons why additional tick box response options might be welcomed and could improve the inclusivity of the question, including:
Issue 1: Selecting a response option
Respondents do not always identify with the current response options and this has led to requests for additional tick boxes.
User need 9: Support for reducing the use of the ‘Other’ category
Some groups and communities report that identifying within the “Other” category can make respondents feel marginalised or not part of the UK.
Additionally, though write-in responses give respondents the opportunity to fully self-identify in the absence of a tick-box that they feel represents them, open-text box data collection can cause a resource burden for teams working on data collection and analysis. Write-in response options are therefore not always available to respondents. Our survey of data collectors and processors has also shown that data collectors and processors often encounter technical or financial limitations and are therefore unable to conduct analysis of the write-in responses. This has implications for:
- data quality
- the ability to aggregate data
- comparability with other data sources
- the inclusivity of ethnicity outputs if write-in responses are omitted.
Impacts of additional tick-box response options
However, any benefits of additional tick-box response options need to be balanced against the impacts of adding a large number to the ethnicity harmonised standard, including on comparability of data over time (User Need 1), the complexity of aggregating and outputting data (User Need 3) and respondent burden.
User need 1: Ethnicity data which can be compared across multiple dimensions
For example, over time and/or geographies or across different ethnicity datasets; our research identifies additional guidance needs, and highlights that comparability remains an important user need when considering changes to the standard.
User need 3: Aggregate levels of ethnicity data
Aggregating granular data meaningfully for analytical purposes remains a key user need, with additional challenges identified for data collectors around processing (coding and aggregating) responses from write-in options.
Review of 'write-in' responses
One way we are informing our review of the response options in the current standard and investigating potential additional tick-box response options is through a review of ‘write-in’ responses to ethnicity questions currently used across different UK data sources.
It aims to:
- better understand the user needs for potential new tick-box response options identified during the Discovery phase
- investigate potential user need for additional tick-box response options that were not raised during the Discovery phase
- better understand how the ‘write-in’ response options are currently used by respondents in different contexts and modes of data collection.
The write-in review is currently underway.
Data sources
In order to select the data sources to include in the review, an assessment of administrative and survey data sources which collected ethnicity data was undertaken. It identified:
- if the data source implements the current harmonised standard (that is, collects data through an ethnicity question closely aligned to the harmonised standard in terms of response options, question stem and guidance)
- if the data producer collects ethnic group write-in data
- if ethnic group write-in data is stored/processed/held by the data producer
- if the data producer is able to share aggregated ‘counts’ of write-in data
- which mode of data collection was used
- the geographical coverage and sample size.
It is worth noting that a significant proportion of data sources that collect ethnicity data do not use questions that include open-text write-in response options. Other data collectors and processors are not able to store write-in responses and instead aggregate them under the broader ‘Other’ category. This may result in some ethnic groups not being captured adequately in statistics, which impacts their visibility in policy research or service provision.
In line with the UK remit of GSS Harmonisation, a range of data sources were chosen to ensure geographic coverage across all four nations of the UK. Additionally, to account for possible differences in the way people record their ethnicity in different contexts, data sources selected for use in the project include:
- different data collection contexts (health, crime, living standards)
- different types of data sources (census, survey, administrative)
- different modes of data collection (face-to-face, telephone, online, paper).
The data sources we are using depends, in part, on our ability to access the data from data owners. We are working collaboratively with data owners to provide the relevant evidence required for the review. Data sources included in the review so far, include:
- Census 2021 for England and Wales
- Census 2021 for Northern Ireland
- Scotland’s Census 2022
- Transformed Labour Force Survey
- Family Resources Survey
- Living Costs and Food Survey
- National Travel Survey.
Some data owners are not able to share frequency ‘counts’ for write-in responses but have provided other summary statistics and contributed insights to the review (such as Understanding Society, The UK Household Longitudinal Study).
What happens next
Following the write-in response review, we will conduct further engagement with specific community groups to contextualise and better understand our findings.
New iterations of an ethnic group question are being tested as per the GSS Harmonisation’s established approach to question development and our ongoing GSS Harmonisation work programme.
Testing explores the acceptability of an alternative question design and assesses whether an alternative format better meets the data collection needs of users. It examines how any changes to the current response options, including potential new tick-boxes, may impact the overall question format and respondent journey through the question. Testing also takes into consideration different modes of data collection (paper, face-to-face, telephone), with in-depth testing of online modes first. Findings from the review of write-in responses will contribute to this ongoing work.
Once we have completed the Alpha phase of our review of the ethnicity harmonised standard, a second report will be published in 2025.
Priority activities and timescales for this phase of the review are set out in the most recent GSS Harmonisation work programme.
Background
Ethnicity is a multifaceted and evolving topic. Various ways of measuring ethnic groups have been used over time. We are currently reviewing the ethnicity harmonised standard as part of our ongoing GSS Harmonisation work programme.
Last year we published research and engagement reports presenting the findings from phase 1 and phase 2 of the Discovery phase of the review of the ethnicity harmonised standard. These reports highlighted that people who use ethnicity data have multiple needs.
The Discovery phase has been completed and we are now in the Alpha phase of our review. Throughout this phase, we will be testing new iterations of an ethnic group question. We are working to:
- explore the acceptability of an alternative question design and assess whether an alternative format better meets the data collection needs of users
- review the response options in the current standard and explore potential additional response options.
This update provides information on how and why we are investigating potential additional response options as part of this phase of the review. The update:
- provides contextual information about what ethnicity is and about the current harmonised standard
- summarises the reasons for this piece of research, including our methodology
- sets out the next steps for this work.
We are publishing our methodology for this specific part of the broader review of the ethnicity harmonised standard now to provide transparency. If you wish to comment, please contact the Harmonisation team at Harmonisation@statistics.gov.uk.
Summary of findings from the ‘Discovery’ phase of the review of the ethnicity harmonised standard
Examples of our Discovery phase research and engagement activities include:
- review of feedback and queries received by ONS and GSS from members of the public, community leaders and other organisations, including data collectors and processors
- review of academic literature, research and analysis
- an online survey of data collectors and processors across government
- workshops with administrative data collectors and with ONS’s Ethnicity and Religion Assurance Panel (a group of stakeholders and independent experts)
- an un-moderated card-sort to explore participants’ mental models of their ethnicity
- a survey of ONS interviewers to explore their experiences of asking ‘What is your ethnicity’
- working with the Office for Equality and Opportunity to explore public perceptions of ethnicity terminology
- as well as regular engagement with government departments and the Devolved Governments.
This work identified 6 issues with the design of the current ethnicity question, which are summarised below:
Respondents do not always identify with the current response options and this has led to requests for additional tick boxes.
Acceptable terminology changes over time – our research suggested that blending or conflating internal identity and external factors within the question can make it confusing, difficult to answer, or offensive; additionally, the current presentation of response options does not use an alphabetical ordering and can be seen as preferential to White British respondents.
Our research suggests the tick box options within the “Mixed” category are not comprehensive enough and are sometimes understood as prioritising the ‘White’ part of their Mixed ethnic group due to the way the response options are presented.
Some people understand ethnicity as defined by an individual factor (such as heritage, culture, national identity, religion, language or physical appearance) and other people consider the concept of ethnicity to be influenced by a combination of these factors.
Our research suggests that some people who consider ethnicity as defined by genetics and family history also understand it as fixed or static; this is in contrast to other people’s experiences of how they identify their ethnicity, which can change in different contexts and over their lifetime.
For example, people sometimes simplify their ethnicity when reporting to reduce respondent burden or complete the task quicker, or their response may be affected by what they feel the interviewer or organisation is looking for (social desirability bias).
This work also highlighted 9 user needs, some of which are established (and met by the current ethnicity harmonised standard) and some of which have developed or evolved over time. These are summarised below:
For example, over time and/or geographies or across different ethnicity datasets; our research identifies additional guidance needs, and highlights that comparability remains an important user need when considering changes to the standard.
Stakeholders need more information about various aspects of outputting ethnicity data.
Aggregating granular data meaningfully for analytical purposes remains a key user need; with additional challenges identified for data collectors around processing (coding and aggregating) responses from write-in options; some data collectors and producers are limited in their ability to process or store write-in responses.
When considering changes to the standard the time and resource for implementation by data collectors is important (including the lifecycle of survey or administrative data collection).
For example, data collectors and processors identified a need to engage with their stakeholders to secure support for implementing any changes; strongly related to user need 4.
Different aspects of ethnicity were important to different users (for example, physical appearance was important for those working on discrimination).
Additional user needs identified in Phase 2:
The current standard is widely used and it aligns with the five ‘high-level’ categories in the census question; current ethnicity outputs often align or aggregate to these categories to enable comparison with census or other sources and this will continue to be a user need if any changes are made.
Some third sector organisations and local authorities need more detailed data to better support groups that are disadvantaged; this must be balanced with the need to aggregate data.
Some groups and communities report that identifying within the “Other” category can make respondents feel marginalised or not part of the UK.
Our Phase 1 and Phase 2 findings added to the existing evidence base of research and public engagement activities that the ONS undertook during the development of the ethnicity question for Census 2021 for England and Wales.
Whilst our ethnicity harmonised standard review draws on the research and public engagement activities that ONS undertook during the development of the Census 2021 ethnicity question, we are not using their ethnic group prioritisation tool. The ONS used the tool to evaluate requests for new ethnic group tick-boxes for the Census 2021 question. The prioritisation tool assessed proposed tick-boxes against seven principles, some of which do not closely align to the scope of the GSS Harmonisation team’s work to update the ethnicity harmonised standard.
Harmonised standards are designed to improve the consistency, coherence and comparability of data collected in a variety of contexts (survey and administrative data collected by government, researchers, charities and other organisations all with different aims, resources and scales), whereas the Census 2021 question development was focused on designing the best question for the census of England and Wales. It was able to include, for example, multiple write-in options and search-as-you-type functionality to collect very granular data which could then be outputted at different aggregations and geographies.
Related links
The current ethnicity harmonised standard is based on the 2011 Census questions across the UK. The questions were reviewed and adjusted so they could be used in the:
This means that the 2021 and 2022 Census questions are, currently, the most up to date way of collecting data about ethnic groups.
We currently recommend using detailed ethnicity classifications wherever possible. This involves using the tick-boxes specified in the GSS Harmonised standard and giving respondents the opportunity to write-in more information if they select “Other” as their response option.
We also recommend considering using the national identity harmonised standard and the religion harmonised standard alongside the ethnicity harmonised standard when asking any questions about ethnicity. You can find more information about question order on our national identity harmonised standard web page.
We have also worked with the Office for Equality and Opportunity (formerly the Cabinet Office’s Equality Hub) on their standards for ethnicity data. The standards bring together best practice and guidance about ethnicity data. They advise public sector data producers and data users about how to best collect, analyse and report on ethnicity data. The standards include guidance and information on:
- the importance of using GSS harmonised standards
- how to aggregate and analyse ethnic groups
- the importance of understanding and reporting on missing ethnicity data.
They also highlight the importance of the Code of Practice for Statistics, including its 3 pillars: trustworthiness, quality, and value.
Contact us
If you would like more information about the current ethnicity standard or the new standard, please contact the GSS Harmonisation team at Harmonisation@statistics.gov.uk.