However, traditional epidemiologic as well as scientific research has included blanket definitions of race and ethnicity; Federally funded researchers are required to report race/ethnicity within the following categories based on previous census results. According to the revised Office of Management and Budget standards noted above, race is considered a separate concept from Hispanic origin (ethnicity) and, wherever possible, separate questions should be asked on each concept. However, these revised categories make comparisons difficult with past work, especially since people can now belong to more than one race category.

In order to better define ethnicity, the 2000 census bureau attempted to expand the categories of race and ethnicity by including the open-ended categories of …; it remains to be seen whether these categorizations will actually be effective in the definition of race or ethnicity.