Might the Survey Be the Intervention? Participating in Ethnicity-Related Research as a Consciousness-Raising Experience

The purpose of this study was to examine how the act of participating in a study about ethnicity may encourage individuals to reflect on the role ethnicity plays in their lives. The participants were 528 ethnically diverse college students from two public universities in California. The survey included Likert-type items and open-ended questions that facilitated personally expressive writing about ethnicity. Results indicated that how participants responded to the survey was conditional on their current developmental level of ethnic identity, particularly ethnic identity exploration. The findings provide initial evidence for the utility of participating in ethnicity-related research for raising college students' awareness about their ethnic identities, and suggest that the form of awareness is moderated by individual differences in ethnic identity development.