Cultural affiliation is the social, historical, geographical, linguistic, behavioural, religious, and self–perceived affinity between a person and an ethnic group.
The detailed ethnic group categories at level 4 are output when the total number of responses to an ethnic group is 1,000 or more. All the remaining ethnic group responses are counted in the category 'other ethnic groups'.
People who do not report their ethnicity are counted in the 'not stated' category or 'not elsewhere included' group.
People are counted just once according to the ethnic group or combination of ethnic groups they have reported. A person reporting just one ethnic group is counted once in the relevant 'only' group (that is, single ethnic group). People reporting two or more ethnic groups are counted once in the relevant 'combination' group. This means that the total number of responses equals the total number of people who stated their ethnicity.
When someone reports two or more ethnic groups within the same level 1 group the person would be counted once in the single group. For example, a person who reported 'English' and 'Scottish' ethnic groups would be counted once in the 'European Only' output group.
Level 1 output groups are European, Mäori, Pacific Peoples, Asian, MELAA (Middle Eastern, Latin American, African) and Other Ethnicity. Level 4 is a list of individual ethnic groups which are grouped together to make up the level 1 output groups.
A ‘not elsewhere classified’ (nec) ethnic group category contains ethnicity responses that are infrequent or unanticipated. For example, Asian nec contains ethnic groups with small counts such as Bhutanese.
A ‘not further defined’ (nfd) ethnic group category contains responses that are not specific ethnic group responses but are able to be placed in a broader category in the ethnicity classification. For example, Continental European, African.
The use of this category is necessary when the person is unsure of their ethnic group in an interviewer administered survey or writes this in as a response.
This category is only used when it is known that the respondent has purposefully chosen not to respond to the question. Use of this residual category in processing is optional. Its use is most applicable in face–to–face or telephone interviews, but may be used in self–completed questionnaires if the respondent has clearly indicated they refuse or object to answering the question.
It is used when a respondent has given two responses that have the same code. This may be two written responses, or one tick box response and one written response. For example, someone may tick the NZ European tick box and write in NZ European.
This category is used when there is a response given, but the response is illegible, or it is unclear what the meaning or intent of the response is – this most commonly occurs when the response being classified contains insufficient detail, is ambiguous or is vague.
This category is used for responses that are positively identified, that is, the meaning and the intent are clear but clearly fall outside the scope of the classification/topic as defined in the standard. For example, a response of vegetarian falls outside the scope of the ethnicity classification.
This category is only used where a respondent has not given any response to the question asked in a self–administered questionnaire, that is, it is solely for non–response.
Lang, K (2001). Review of the Measurement of Ethnicity – Policy Perspectives Paper, Statistics New Zealand, Wellington.
Smith, A (1986). The Ethnic Origins of Nations, Blackwell, Oxford.
Statistics New Zealand (2004). Report of the Review of the Measurement of Ethnicity, Statistics New Zealand, Wellington.