Survey Innovations

Advancing Phenotypic Understanding of Inequality via Hair Diversity

Multidimensional Hair Diversity Index

The Multidimensional Hair Diversity Index (MHDI) is a novel framework that captures both the physical and socio-cultural dimensions of hair as key aspects of phenotype. Developed through interdisciplinary research and informed by critiques of racialized beauty standards, the MHDI comprises two complementary measures: the Irizarry Hair Texture Scale (IHTS) and Irizarry Hair Styling Inventory (IHSI). Together, these measures provide a scientifically grounded approach to studying hair as a marker of identity and a lens for examining systemic inequities.

Irizarry, Y. (2025). The Irizarry hair texture scale. SocArXiv Preprint.

Irizarry Hair Texture Scale (IHTS)

The IHTS spans the full spectrum of natural hair textures, incorporating factors such as curl pattern and density.

Irizarry Hair Styling Inventory (IHSI)

The IHSI documents the diverse ways individuals style, protect, and modify their natural hair.

You deserve to show up as your full self, rocking your crown with your head held high. — Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, Remarks on the CROWN Act

Multidimensional Street Race for Identifying and Eliminating Inequality

What's Your Street Race?

The original "Street Race" measure asks individuals to identify how they believe strangers perceive their race when they are walking down the street, based solely on their appearance. This approach captures the social reality of racial classification as experienced in everyday life, rather than relying only on self-identified or official racial categories. Building on this foundation, our revised multidimensional measure offers a more nuanced and comprehensive assessment of street race by allowing respondents to indicate multiple perceived racial categories and to rank them in order of likelihood.

Street Race Publications

Nuñez, C., Silver, J., Galdámez, M., & López, N. (2024). Latino is not a race: Understanding lived experiences through street race. Latino Policy and Politics Institute.
Gonzalez, D., López, N., Karpman, M., Furtado, K., Kenney, G. M., McDaniel, M., & O'Brien, C. (2022). Observing Race and Ethnicity through a New Lens: An Exploratory Analysis of Different Approaches to Measuring “Street Race”. Urban Institute.
Vargas, E. D., Juarez, M., Stone, L. C., & Lopez, N. (2021). Critical ‘street race’praxis: advancing the measurement of racial discrimination among diverse Latinx communities in the US. Critical Public Health, 31(4), 381-391.
López, N., & Hogan, H. (2021). What’s your street race? The urgency of critical race theory and intersectionality as lenses for revising the US office of management and budget guidelines, census and administrative data in Latinx communities and beyond. Genealogy, 5(3), 75.
López, N., Vargas, E., Juarez, M., Cacari-Stone, L., & Bettez, S. (2018). What’s your “street race”? Leveraging multidimensional measures of race and intersectionality for examining physical and mental health status among Latinxs. Sociology of Race and Ethnicity, 4(1), 49-66.
López, Nancy. 2014. “What’s Your “Street Race-Gender”? Why We Need Separate Questions on Hispanic Origin and Race for the 2020 Census. RWJF Human Capital Blog. November 26, RWJF Blog

Introducing Our Revised Street Race Measure

Substantive Changes

Provides examples like skin color, facial features, and hair to help people think about what others might notice.
Allows respondents to rank up to three racial categories in order of how likely others are to see them as each race, rather than selecting just one.
Includes more detailed racial categories, splitting broad groups like "Asian American" into "East Asian," "South Asian," and "Southeast Asian," with examples for each.
Updates Middle Eastern/Arab to Middle Eastern or North African with examples for clarity.
Uses more inclusive phrasing “out in public” to describe the setting.

Original Measure

If you were walking down the street, what race do you think other Americans who do not know you personally would assume you were based on what you look like?

White, not Hispanic
Black
Latino or Hispanic
Asian American
Middle Eastern/Arab
American Indian or Alaskan Native
Native Hawaiian
Pacific Islander (not Hawaiian)
Other: SPECIFY

Revised Measure

This question is about how others see your race, not how you identify yourself. If you were out in public, what race do you think other people who do not know you personally would assume you were based on what you look like (for example, your skin color, facial features, and hair)?

Using the list below, indicate what race other people are most likely to think you are. Rank your answers where 1st means most likely, 2nd means next most likely, and so forth. If people almost always see you as one race, just indicate 1st for one category.

American Indian or Alaska Native
Black or African American
East Asian (such as Chinese, Japanese, or Korean)
South Asian (such as Indian or Pakistani)
Southeast Asian (such as Filipino or Vietnamese)
Hispanic or Latino
Middle Eastern or North African (such as Lebanese or Egyptian)
Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander
White
Some other race (please specify)

Through everyday critical reflection about street race, we create bridges of understanding, empathy, unity and solidarity. — Dr. Nancy López, What is 'Street Race'?

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