National Asian American Survey, 2008

The 2008 National Asian American Survey (NAAS) contains 5,159 completed telephone interviews of self-identified Asian/Asian American residents of the United States. Interviewing began on August 12, 2008, and ended on October 29, 2008. The survey instrument included questions about political behavior and attitudes as well as personal experiences in immigration to the United States. Topics include attitudes toward government, politics and political issues, extent of political involvement, party affiliation, sources of political information, voting behavior, health and financial status, racial and ethnic identification, linked fate and discrimination, and religious and ethnic social networks. The overall length of the interview was approximately 29 minutes. The NAAS includes adults in the United States who identify any family background from countries in Asia, exclusive of countries classified as the Middle East. Survey interviews were conducted in eight languages (English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Japanese, and Hindi) -- chosen according to the interviewee's preference -- and yielded sample sizes of at least 500 adult Asian American residents in the six largest national-origin groups. The final breakdown was 1,350 Chinese, 1,150 Asian Indian, 719 Vietnamese, 614 Korean, 603 Filipino, and 541 Japanese origin respondents, with 182 additional respondents who are either from other countries in Asia, or who identify as multi-racial or multi-ethnic. Overall, 40 percent of the sample chose English as their preferred language for the interview. The sample is weighted, using a raking procedure, to reflect the balance of gender, nativity, citizenship status, and educational attainment of the six largest national-origin groups in the United States, as well as the proportion of these national-origin groups within each state. Demographic information includes age, race, language, gender, country of birth, religion, marital status, educational level, employment status, citizenship status, household income, and size of household.