WASHINGTON — Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities make up the fastest growing demographic across the country, but historically, these communities have frequently been excluded or underrepresented in public opinion polls.

To correct this data inequity, NORC at the University of Chicago and AARP are leading a collective effort to develop the first-ever AANHPI-focused survey panel, Amplify AAPI.

Amplify AAPI will consist of a representative cohort of AANHPI adults that can support polls of 1,000 to 3,000 interview completions. Interviews will be conducted online and on the telephone in Chinese dialects, Korean, and Vietnamese, in addition to English. More languages will be added as demand for Amplify AAPI grows.

AARP and NORC provided seed funding for the initiative as early collaborators and have since been joined by AAPI Data, Blue Shield of California Foundation, and The Rockefeller Foundation. We seek additional funders to establish this critical data resource.

The AANHPI community is linguistically and culturally diverse, making research complex and challenging. The lack of research on these groups means they are often unseen when it comes to setting policy, allocating resources, and providing services. This results, for example, in a health care system that fails to adequately deliver prevention, treatment, and care to AANHPI communities.

Amplify AAPI will make cost-effective, scientifically rigorous research on the needs, opinions, and experiences of AANHPI communities possible. This will help ensure that policies, programs, resources, and commercial products and services are inclusive of AANHPI needs.

“With Amplify AAPI, we are addressing longstanding data inequities,” said J. Michael Dennis, NORC senior vice president and executive director of AmeriSpeakÒ, NORC’s rigorous multi-client, panel-based research platform. “Our goal is to finally give AANHPI communities fair data representation so their voices can be adequately heard in government, academia, the public sector, and private enterprise. This panel will be the first of its kind designed to reach and represent these communities.”

“Amplify AAPI will be a crucial step towards creating a more equitable future for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities," said Daphne Kwok, vice president of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, Asian American & Pacific Islander Audience, AARP. "We hope this initiative will move AANHPIs from being ‘statistically insignificant’ to finally being ‘significant members of American society.’”

The undercounting of AANHPI voices in statistical surveys stems from high costs and poor data infrastructure. To date, the lack of an accessible panel resource to survey AANHPI communities, and most importantly non-English speakers among them, has perpetuated inaccurate and incomplete representation. Amplify AAPI makes possible cost effective, statistically valid polls of AANHPI communities by creating a survey platform whose construction and maintenance costs are shared across multiple surveys conducted on the new panel.

“For far too long, the perspectives of Asian American and NHPI communities have been missing from policy conversations on a range of issues, from health care and housing affordability to education and economic mobility,” said Karthick Ramakrishnan, founder and co-director of AAPI Data. “Amplify AAPI will advance data equity by providing timely and critical insights that inform the work of news agencies, community organizations, government agencies, and philanthropies.”

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About NORC at the University of Chicago 
NORC at the University of Chicago conducts research and analysis that decision-makers trust. As a nonpartisan research organization and a pioneer in measuring and understanding the world, we have studied almost every aspect of the human experience and every major news event for more than eight decades. Today, we partner with government, corporate, and nonprofit clients around the world to provide the objectivity and expertise necessary to inform the critical decisions facing society. 
www.norc.org

About AARP
AARP is the nation's largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to empowering people 50 and older to choose how they live as they age. With a nationwide presence, AARP strengthens communities and advocates for what matters most to the more than 100 million Americans 50-plus and their families: health security, financial stability and personal fulfillment. AARP also produces the nation's largest circulation publications: AARP The Magazine and AARP Bulletin. To learn more, visit www.aarp.org/about-aarp/, www.aarp.org/español or follow @AARP, @AARPenEspañol and @AARPadvocates on social media.