Developing an Approach to Disaggregating Data on Asian Americans

Problem

Differences in well-being within the Asian American population may not be fully captured when data are aggregated broadly.

Identifying differences in health outcomes and other areas of well-being requires accurate, valid, and reliable data. When data about population groups are aggregated broadly, researchers and analysts may have less information to understand how outcomes and experiences vary across communities.

For Asian Americans—a population made up of dozens of cultures and ethnicities—breaking down high-level data can provide more insight into community experiences, strengths, and needs. There are variations in outcomes among Asian American subgroups in many areas of well-being, such as income and poverty levels and certain health conditions.

More detailed data can provide researchers, analysts, and practitioners with additional insight into the range of experiences and outcomes among Asian American communities. However, analyzing data by individual country of origin or ethnicity isn’t always feasible, so a practical mid-level option was needed.

Solution

NORC and its partners led a participatory approach to develop practical guidance for disaggregating data on Asian Americans.

NORC and its partners, the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum and Stop AAPI Hate, led participatory, mixed-methods research to develop an approach for disaggregating data on the Asian American population into analytically meaningful subgroups. The team:

Analyzed secondary qualitative data on sociocultural and historical factors to inform the draft approach
Analyzed secondary quantitative data related to health and well-being to inform the draft approach
Gathered community input on the draft approach through a series of listening sessions

The resulting evidence-based, community-informed guidance provides data users with an additional methodological option for examining the range of outcomes and experiences across Asian American communities.

Result

The final guidance presents a practical methodological approach for researchers, analysts, and practitioners working with well-being data on Asian Americans.

The guidance is outlined in the following resources, which can be downloaded below:

A final report including disaggregation categories and key points, tips, and considerations for their application, areas for future research, and a summary of the formative research that helped shape the guidance
A shorter “snapshot” summarizing the guidance for data users

These resources offer researchers and practitioners actionable guidance to support a more detailed understanding of well-being among Asian American communities. It is intended to complement, rather than replace, existing approaches, federal standards, or reporting requirements.

As an additional methodological option alongside existing approaches, this guidance is intended to support continued application, testing, and refinement by others in the field across different analytic contexts. We welcome feedback and insights from researchers, practitioners, and others who use or adapt this guidance at AAPI-Research@norc.org.

Support for this grant is provided by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation.