Statistical Limitations when studying Indigenous Populations

On April 23, 2021, Dr. Jameson Lopez, of the Quechan tribe located in Fort Yuma, California,
reflected on his research centered on the limitations in using statistics when studying the
Indigenous populations. As a quantitative researcher, Lopez believes that the Tribal Critical
Race theory has grounded the basis for his life long study.

Tribal Critical Race theory (TribalCrit) was a theory developed by Bryan Brayboy. The theory is a
way to explain the difference in perception and experience of American Indians and Alaska
Natives (AI/AN) from the perspective of those with non-Native ancestry. (Haynes Writer, 2008)

One of the main aspects when studying race and ethnicity is determining who is included? In
the University of Michigan summer institute ICPSR course Race, Ethnicity, and quantitative
methodology, we reflect on the biases and issues with how data is collected and used when
studying different racial/ethnic communities. In this course, race is defined from the
sociological perspective. Race would refer to one’s physical appearance and how the social
construct defines the group and culture. Ethnicity would refer to a shared culture among a
group, such as language, ancestry, and beliefs ("Race and Ethnicity", 2021)

Due to the nature of the self identification of race, the problems that surround studies from
externally collected data sources, persist even in the tribal community. When conducting
studies about faculty, one of largest public datasets available can be found from the Integrated
Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). This dataset is a system of survey information
gathered from post-secondary institutions.

When analyzing the IPEDS data set to study native faculty, the researcher needs to be aware of
accuracy of the source in collecting the proper demographics. Who is Native? The problem
with identifying as native, is that the definition can be over glorified and manipulated so that
“everyone’s grandmother was a Cherokee princess”. This oversimplification of identity has
been used in the mainstream in ways that hurt the indigenous community. A more recent
example of this problem surfaced in 2019 when Elizabeth Warren, claimed Native American
ancestry on official documents and in her past campaign (Jamerson, 2021).

A researcher should constantly question “how accurate is the Indigenous data?”. When the
Indian Reorganization Act was instituted in 1934, was supposed to empower Native Americans
to take ownership of their tribal lands. The act had significant improvements in social, political,
and economical conditions for Native Americans, however, the implementation caused
exclusions of some significant groups within the tribal community (Davis, 2013).

In the Indian Reorganization Act, individual tribes create arbitrary blood quantum cutoff values
based on tribal councils decisions. These standards can still exclude individuals who identify
as Native, both in heritage and in practice. In many tribal communities, 1/4 th blood quantum is
a common quantitative cutoff for tribal membership.

In small tribal communities, this can make it very difficult and isolating for individuals who are
completely immersed in their tribal identity, ie learn the language, participate in ceremony, but
by blood quantum are not identified as a tribal member because they are only 1/8th or 1/16th.
This alone can cause divisions between groups because it highlights the question, who has the
authority to interrogate an identity, if we self identify?

This is only the beginning of the limitations when studying Indigenous communities. Sense of
belonging is very important when looking at how race and ethnicity impact how you interact
with the world.

In the academy, researchers are interested in measuring outcomes, specifically educational

outcomes. As tribal colleges seek to become accepted into the fold of accreditation, these
institutions must abide by certain measurements of success. Namely, persistence of students
during the first and second year of college. Institutions also measure grade point averages and
standardized assessment scores. The question still remains, how are the learning outcomes of
the accrediting bodies in alignment with the mission of the tribal college and university (TCU)
community?

In the TCU community, institutions are constantly questioning how to define learning outcomes
from the Indigenous perspective. In outcomes of success, tribal elders teach our youth to give
back to their community, protect the traditional ways, and revitalize what was lost through
colonization (Lopez, 2017). How can the tribal college community reimagine how we look at
outcomes in a way that identifies the TCU mission and values?

Another limitation to consider when using statistics to study indigenous populations population
samples. Many studies in the U.S. use data from an oversampling of the Navajo and Apache
Nation. This means that there are entire communities of Indigenous people who are not
included. This is the bases for many people who are petitioning for tribal communities to
collect our own data.

In a basic statistical analysis of random sampling, the sample is a subset of the larger set. In
theory, each individual is chosen randomly. This means that smaller tribal communities still
have a lesser probability of being included. In an article from Dr. Lopez, he explores the idea of
sampling Indigenous populations based on their creation story. This method, Lopez argues, will
allow the groups to be more congruent based on what aspects are being studied (Lopez,
2017).

In future reviews, I plan to include more articles regarding Indigenous data sovereignty,
Indigenous Statistics, and the Data Ethics research initiative within the American Indian Higher
Education Consortium (AIHEC). The current Data Science Community of Practice initiative is to
bring data ownership and empowerment to tribal colleges and communities. This initiative will
influence my future work. My desire is to impact the equity gap for indigenous communities in
higher education for both faculty and students, through assessment, resource development
and implementation at the institutional level.
References

1.) Haynes Writer, J. (2008). Unmasking, Exposing, and Confronting: Critical Race Theory, Tribal
Critical Race Theory and Multicultural Education. International Journal Of Multicultural
Education, 10(2). doi: 10.18251/ijme.v10i2.137

2.) Race and Ethnicity. (2021). Retrieved 23 April 2021, from https://www.asanet.org/topics/
race-and-ethnicity

3.)Jamerson, J. (2021). Elizabeth Warren Apologizes for DNA Test, Identifying as Native
American. Retrieved 23 April 2021, from https://www.wsj.com/articles/elizabeth-warren-again-
apologizes-after-release-of-native-american-ancestry-link-11566241904

4.)Davis, M. (2013). Indigenous Struggles in Standard-Setting: The United Nations Declaration

on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.2298527

5.)Lopez, J. (2017). Factors Influencing American Indian and Alaska Native Postsecondary
Persistence: AI/AN Millennium Falcon Persistence Model. Research In Higher Education, 59(6),
792-811. doi: 10.1007/s11162-017-9487-6