Race and ethnicity are routine demographic variables in nursing and health services research. Researchers use racial and ethnic identifiers to describe populations, document health disparities, and policy development.

There is a growing debate in nursing, epidemiology, public health, and medicine about using racial and ethnic variables in research and the problems engendered by these variables. Although this discussion is occurring within these disciplines, few empirical studies investigating how US researchers conceptualize and analyze race and ethnicity exist. Within sociological and anthropological literature, many studies have explored racial concepts with professors and scientists.

A qualitative study was undertaken (July 2004-November 2004) to ascertain how health services researchers conceptualize, operationalize, and analyze race and ethnicity. Broad findings showed that race and ethnicity held several meanings (biological, social, cultural) for respondents. Measuring race and ethnicity necessitated uniform classifications thus imposing a racialized identity for research participants. Study participants had to conform to classification schemes that rendered some racialized identities invisible, negated some racialized identities, or excluded some racialized identities from the research project. 

Data showed that racial and ethnic variables often served as proxies for social factors (marginalization and inequality) and socioeconomic factors (poverty and class). Several respondents studied other variables of interest (neighborhood characteristics and stature) because they were better at advancing knowledge about health differentials and did not contribute to unwarranted assumptions about racial or ethnic groups.

The policy recommendation calls for a paradigmatic shift in thinking about when and how to use racial and ethnic variables in health services research.