Surveying American Indians with Opt-In Internet Surveys

Abstract:Although the national survey is the dominant method used to study American attitudes and behavior, it has been used only infrequently to study American Indians. This article examines the possibility of using Internet opt-in panel surveys to study American Indian populations. We first compare the results from an original national stand-alone opt-in panel study with those of pooled data sets from the Current Population Survey and the American National Election Studies. We then use the opt-in panel survey to examine how different operational definitions of American Indians affect how well their political behavior and attitudes are understood. The results of this initial research offer cautionary hope for the use of opt-in panel surveys to study the development of American Indian political behavior and attitudes.