Reliability of Native American Indian Cultural Identity Measures

Abstract

This Research Note discusses the reliability of nine core Native American cultural identity measures solicited from survey respondents during the Southern Ute Indian Community Safety Survey (SUICSS), a USDOJ-sponsored study of crime and violence, to the same data collected during the personal interview section of the SUICSS.  To further support findings from this study, these data were tested against a different dataset developed from an earlier study of Native American identities among women housed in a prison (ORW). Using t-tests and principle component factor analysis, it is demonstrated that (1) the SUICSS interview data are statistically-related to data collected from survey respondents and (2) the SUICSS data are statistically congruent with the prisoner (ORW) data.  Therefore, the survey and interview data form the SUICSS should be used simultaneously within the same dataset.