Race in Integrated Data Systems: Why, Wherefrom, and How

Dr. Robert L. Fischer
Grace Longwell Coyle Professor in Civil Society
Jack, Joseph, & Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences
Director, Center on Urban Poverty and Community Development
Case Western Reserve University

Integrated administrative data systems (IADs) are a powerful resource to implement research and analysis for social policy. While IADs may capture racial identity data from multiple administrative sources, there is no agreed upon criteria for whether and how to synthesize this information in a way that (1) produces knowledge to advance racial equity, while (2) underscoring race as a social construct. This study leverages a county-level IAD to test and analyze an event-table design to represent racial identity that, when informed with historical and community knowledge, may meet both of the aforementioned goals.

The authors illustrate this approach applied to the development of a registry of youth experiencing homelessness, as captured by linked administrative data from vital records, homeless service agencies, schools, food support programs, and other systems. The event table design includes race identity for each person in the registry across all systems included. They develop criteria to inform the hierarchy of one source over another when there are discrepancies in race identity across systems, and when categories for this variable differ across administrative systems. They provide historical and social context behind potential discrepancies and discuss approaches to missing data. Furthermore, they highlight the value of including qualitative knowledge from agency data managers, users, and those represented in the data to inform the synthesis of information around race. Finally, they illustrate how this approach can guide research analysis and contextualize results, thus enhancing the research process and advancing racial equity with IADs.

Robert L. Fischer joined the Mandel School in 2001 as a senior research associate, became an associate professor in the tenure track in 2017, tenured in 2020, and full professor in 2024. He has authored more than 60 peer-reviewed publications and generated more than $15 million in extramural grant funding as principal or co-principal investigator. Dr. Fischer has served as director of the MNO program since 2012 and teaches two courses in the program. He is the lead full-time faculty member teaching in the MNO degree program, and led the work to it being in the inaugural cohort of accredited nonprofit masters programs in 2019.

Additionally, Dr. Fischer served as co-director of the Center on Poverty and Community Development since 2005 and as director since 2022. He has also been an active member of the school’s steering committee, curriculum committee, budget committee, library committee and has served as chair of a standing committee on the faculty senate. He currently serves on the board of trustees of both the St. Lukes Foundation and the Woodruff Foundation in Cleveland. Dr. Fischer has been a generous institution-builder at the Mandel School and CWRU and a frequent contributor to the academy.