<p>In general, I think such questions are on topic. But my concern is that you may not get high quality answers at this site. </p>

<p>For example, political scientists may have totally different categorical definitions than economists, and statisticians can be completely ignorant of the fact that there's any difference between the fields. As such, I think that while these questions about can be on topic here, I think you'll have better quality answers about economic variables from an economic focussed forum. </p>

<p>To illustrate, I think this would be the right site for something like</p>

<p>'One of my research subjects says that he is a Mexican Chicano but adamantly denies being "Hispanic". <strong>What are the statistical ramifications for creating a new subpopulation with extremely few subjects?</strong>'. The question in bold is a definitive question about statistical implications. </p>

<p>The original question posed, "Do I need to create a new "Non-Hispanic Chicano or Mexican" category for my model plotting ethnic background versus educational attainment or do Best Practices in demographic modeling allow me to define all Mexicans as ipso facto Hispanic?", is likely to get a much better answer on a forum that focusses on demographic modeling specifically, especially in regards to what demographic best practices are. </p>
