ANN ARBOR—A landmark study of 1,000 Arab Americans and Chaldeans is starting July 10 in the Detroit region, conducted by the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research (ISR), the world’s largest academic survey and research organization.

“The aftermath of Sept. 11 brought new urgency to issues of national identity, multiculturalism and trust,” said U-M sociologist Wayne Baker, who is principal investigator of the study with U-M Dearborn Center for Arab American Studies researcher Ronald Stockton. “Arab Americans have confronted increased discrimination and suspicion as they re-examine their national, religious and ethnic commitments, and their trust in U.S. institutions.”

The survey includes questions on life, work, family, values, relationships, community participation and well-being, in addition to experiences since Sept. 11. “This impartial survey will provide an accurate picture of the Arab American and Chaldean community,” Baker said. “It will correct the enormous amount of misinformation that exists about the community, and counter destructive stereotypes.”

Major funding for the survey comes from the Russell Sage Foundation, along with seed money provided by the U-M in Ann Arbor and Dearborn. Community leaders from more than 20 secular and religious organizations are serving as an advisory panel.

Currently estimated at 100,000 to 300,000 persons, the tri-county Detroit Arab American and Chaldean community is one of the largest, most concentrated and best-known Arab expatriate populations in the world. According to Baker and Stockton, it is also one of the most diverse, in religion as well as national origin, with Lebanese, Palestinians, Yemenis and Iraqis living alongside Syrians, Jordanians, Egyptians, Moroccans and people from other Middle Eastern and North African countries. By sampling 1,000 Arab Americans and Chaldeans in Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties, plus 500 non-Arabs residing in the same area, the researchers hope to document the similarities and differences in attitudes, behavior and opinions among various Arab American groups and between these groups and other Americans.

Face-to-face interviews with randomly selected residents are scheduled to continue throughout the summer and early fall. The ISR survey research team has hired Arabic-speaking interviewers from the community to conduct the survey and hopes to release preliminary findings late this year.

Co-principal investigators of the study include U-M researchers Sally Howell, Ann Chih Lin, Andrew Shryock and Mark Tessler and Princeton University researcher Amaney Jamal.

For more information about the study, including a partial list of community advisory panel members, confidentiality guidelines, academic advisors and research team bios in both Arabic and English, see http://www.isr.umich.edu/news/arab-amer/index.html

Established in 1948, the Institute for Social Research (ISR) is among the world’s oldest survey research organizations and a world leader in the development and application of social science methodology. ISR conducts some of the most widely-cited studies in the nation, including the Survey of Consumer Attitudes, the National Election Studies, the Monitoring the Future Study, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, the Health and Retirement Study, the Columbia County Longitudinal Study and the National Survey of Black Americans. ISR researchers also collaborate with social scientists in more than 60 nations on the World Values Surveys and other projects, and the Institute has established formal ties with universities in Poland, China, and South Africa. Visit the ISR Web site at www.isr.umich.edu for more information. ISR is also home to the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), the world’s largest computerized social science data archive. [DAAS]

Web: www.isr.umich.edu