An Opinion Survey of the Iranian-American Community Farzan Parsinejad, Ali Mostashari, and Yasmin Sanie Iranian Studies Group at MIT

ISG Vision and Direction of Research Iranian Studies Group (ISG): A non-partisan, non-profit, academic organization with the goal of promoting Iranian civil society through conducting research on issues related to the Iranian society in Iran and abroad ISG aims  to bridge the gap between research, public knowledge, and policy-making  to create a network of academics, community leaders and interested individuals in Iran, the U.S., and other parts of the world As a student-based organization, ISG values learning and personal development.

Some Previous Relevant Studies (Surveys) 2004 Iranian American Survey, Akbar Mahdi, “Not a community”, m.shtml m.shtml Susan tahmasebi, “Iranian Americans, a political survey”, tml tml

Goals of the Opinion Survey Understanding the characteristics, needs and concerns of individuals in the Iranian American community. Assess the perception of individuals of Iranian ancestry of the Iranian American community and potential common values, needs and concerns. The results of the survey can provide community leaders with information on how better serve the community The results can help the community members understand the views of the community at large.

How Can a Survey Help? 1. To have a hypothesis and try to test it so the questions are geared toward the collection of specific information. 2. Increase the number of demographic/descriptive questions so that more relevant correlations can be established between relevant variables.

Iranian Americans (IA) Iranian American: An Iranian-American is a natural-born or naturalized U.S. citizen of Iranian ancestry. Iranian-American community: The Iranian- American community consists of individuals of Iranian ancestry who consider the United States their primary home, including U.S. citizens, permanent residents and those living in the United States in the process of becoming immigrants.

2004 Iranian American Survey A very good initiation Having the support of many Iranian American Organizations General questions, seems to be prepared just to draw the attention of IAs and gain their trust We have moved one step ahead in asking more detailed questions to establish a correlation of different related issues

Survey Orientation Socioeconomic Characteristics of Iranian- Americans Foreign and Domestic political participation

Questionnaire Categories Family structure  Education  Cultural background  Political background  Religious background  Economic background Nature of their interaction with other individuals in the community  Frequency of socializing with others in the community  Individuals they socialize with

What part of Iranian culture do they associate with more  Language  Persian cuisine  Music  Persian festivities  Movies  Sport  Literature Questionnaire Categories, Cont.

Their emotional/economic ties to Iran?  Source of emotional ties (second-hand through parents, or through first hand experience of Iran)  Frequency of visiting Iran  Contributing to charities for helping Iranians in Iran Their perception of being a minority  The obstacles they have faced being minority  Their interaction with other minorities Questionnaire Categories, Cont.

How much have they assimilated in American society  Their interactions with Americans  Marriage to Americans or other nationalities  Language they speak with their children  Language they speak with other Iranians Questionnaire Categories, Cont.

Survey Methods US mail Phone Survey Internet  Biased  Cheap  Easy to process the results  Fast

Summary We have devised a questionnaire for the first series of surveys of Iranian Americans which will explore how demographic information such as age, gender, educational attainment, being first or second generation, geographic location and social/economical standing has an impact on the answers. The survey is going to be launched in January 2005.