Acculturation: A Data-Driven Learning Guide

Application

For this exercise you will explore the two major models of acculturation, assimilation and ethnic competition/separation, using crosstabulation.

Note that the variables E9, B2C, and D19E were recoded for readability (we renamed them, and excluded non-responsive answers "refused to answer," "don't know" and missing data), but not altered otherwise. The new variables are called: HMLANG, ARABTV, and VISIT respectively.

Respondents were asked in what year they immigrated to the US (E2A). This variable lists each year (from 1921 to 2003) as a distinct category. We recoded it by grouping years into 5 categories to indicate how long people had lived in the US: 1="less than 5 years", 2="5-9 years", 3="10-19 years", 4="20-39 years" and 5="40+ years". We named the new variable YRSUS.

Ethnic competition

The separation, or ethnic competition, model of acculturation proposes that immigrants value their culture of origin and strive to preserve their ethnic/cultural identity, beliefs, and practices.

To examine the strength of respondents' ties to their culture of origin look at whether respondents speak a language other than English at home (HMLANG). Take a look at the crosstab of HMLANG with YRSUS . Under row total, what percentage of respondents said that they speak a language other than English at home? Are responses consistent across the different immigrant groups?

Next look at whether respondents watch newscasts in Arabic. This is measured by the variable ARABTV ("In a typical week, do you watch any television news broadcast in Arabic?"). Examine the crosstab of ARABTV with YRSUS and look at the row totals. What percentage of respondents answered "yes" to this question? Are there large differences between the different groups?

The variable VISIT measures the importance to respondents of visiting their country of origin frequently. Consider the crosstab of VISIT and YRSUS. What percentage of respondents answered "A lot" and "Somewhat" to this question? Which group of immigrants was the most likely to say that it's very important to visit their country of origin frequently? Which group was the least likely to think that?

To explore the importance that immigrants place on traditional beliefs look at: the importance of speaking Arabic (D19A) and the importance of marrying somebody of Arab background (D19B). For both variables there were four response options: "A lot," "Somewhat," "Only a little," and "Not at all." We collapsed them into two: "Important" and "Not (so) important" and called the new variables IMPSPK and IMPMARRY. Take a look at the crosstabs of IMPSPK by YRSUS, and IMPMARRY by YRSUS. How important is it for immigrants in the sample to speak Arabic? Are there large differences between the groups? Does the importance of marrying someone of Arab background diminish the longer people live in the US?

Assimilation

The assimilation model of acculturation proposes that immigrants gradually lose their original cultural identity and become more like the dominant group.

Language proficiency is considered an important aspect of assimilation. Do immigrants' English skills improve the longer they live in the US? To find out look at variable E11, which asks respondents how well they speak English. There were 4 answer options: "very well," "well," "not well," and "not at all." We collapsed those into two: "Well or very well" (coded as "1") and "Not well or at all" (coded as "2"), excluded missing data, and named the new variable PROFICIENCY. Take a look at the crosstab of PROFICIENCY and YRSUS. What percentage of recent immigrants said that they do not speak English well or at all? What percentage of those who have lived here the longest falls in that category?

Next look at respondents' answers to the question: "How proud are you to be American?" (F4). The four answer options were: "Very proud," "Quite proud," Not very proud," and "Not at all proud." We collapsed them into two ("Very/quite proud" and "Not very/at all proud"), excluded missing data, and named the new variable PROUDAM. The crosstab of PROUDAM and YRSUS shows the level of American pride among the different groups of immigrants. Is there much difference between them? Do you find the results surprising?

Respondents were also asked whether they agreed or disagreed with the statement: "I feel at home in America" (H9). We collapsed the number of response categories from five to three ("Agree," "Neither agree nor disagree," and "Disagree"). The new variable is called HOMEUS. Run a crosstab of HOMEUS by YRSUS. What percentage of recent immigrants report feeling at home in the US? What percentage of those who have been here the longest feel the same way?

To measure immigrants' civic engagement, look at the variable C4: "Are you registered to vote?" We recoded this variable to include only those who responded "Yes" (1) or "No" (2), and named the new variable VOTE. Run a crosstab of VOTE by YRSUS, using the variable E2D ("Are you a US citizen?") as a filter. Only those who answered "yes" (coded as "1") to this question are included in the results. Of which group is the largest percentage registered to vote? Between which two groups are the differences in voter registration the greatest?

Studies have shown that as immigrants assimilate, they adopt Americans' cynicism about political institutions, and their confidence in the government. In this dataset confidence in the government in Washington, DC is measured with the variable C30, which contains 4 answer options: "A great deal", "A lot", "Not very much", and "None at all." We collapsed these categories into two: "A lot" ("1"), and "Not very much/at all" ("2"), excluded missing data, and named the new variable TRUSTGOV. The crosstab of TRUSTGOV and YRSUS shows how the different groups of immigrants feel about the government in Washington, DC. Is acculturation corrosive of political trust? Does confidence in the American government increase or decrease the longer people live in the US?

Note: The online data analysis system (DAS) used on this site uses a system called Survey Documentation and Analysis (SDA), developed and maintained by the Computer-assisted Survey Methods Program (CSM) at the University of California, Berkeley. Documentation for DAS/SDA can be found on their Web site.

Goal & Concept - Dataset - Application - Interpretation & Summary - Bibliography