Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 1, Number 1, 1 February 1984 — Mandated Survey Plans Readied [ARTICLE]

Mandated Survey Plans Readied

By Wendy Hee Planning and Development Officer The Office of Hawaiian Affairs will be conducting a survey in conjunction with a Population Survey/Needs Assessment (PS/NA) Project as mandated in Chapter 10 of the Hawaii Revised Statutes. Purposes of the project are to: • ldentify physical, sociological, psychological anel eeonomie needs of Hawaiians. • Establish reliable estimates of the number of Hawaiians by blood quantum. • Complement the Comprehensive Services for Hawaiians Office Survey to identify gaps and barriers in the delivery of services to Hawaiians. • Assist OH A in establishing priorities and programs to direct future activities. The State Department of Health's Heakh Surveillance Project (HSP), whieh conducts surveys all year round, will provide the sampling frame for OHA's PS/NA project. Under the arrangement, HSP will draw a stratified random sample from its statewide list of all occupied housing units for its own survey. HSP will ask all Hawaiians in its survey if they would be willing to participate in OHA's PS/NA survey. HSP will then give OHA the names, aeldresses and telephone numbers of those Hawaiians. OHA interviewers will then followup to conduct the survey. OHA interviewers will contact the Hawaiians identified by HSP to schedule an appointment for the entire household to be interviewed, since OHA's PS/NA is designed to gather the opinions and needs of all members of the Hawaiian household. OHA plans to conduct approximately 800 to 1,000 surveys. Assuming that the 1980 U.S. Census figure of 3.8 for the average size of a Hawaiian household is still correct, the PS/NA will cover a total of 3.040 to 3,800 Hawaiians. The PS/NA Project will have wideranging effects on policies, programs and priorities for OHA because it is so eomprehensive in terms of issues addressed and number of Hawaiians surveyed. In addition it will provide base data that ean be shared with other Hawaiian organizations such as those represented in the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) to facilitate coordination of efforts. OHA has been fortunate in having the assistance of TAC whieh is made up of representatives of Alu Like, Cancer Research Center of Hawaii, The Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate, Liliuokalani Trust, State Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, State Department of Planning and Eeonomie Development and the University of Hawaii. TAC has helped design the project to eliminate duplication and reduce costs. For example, although the OHA PS/NA will address a very broad range of issues (education, work, Hawaiian rights, land, culture, community affairs and use of public and private social services), it will not gather any information on heahh since DOH already collects heahh data and is able to share the information with OHA. The PS/NA will alsoavoid duplication of previous needs assessments in that OHA's PS/NA is the first comprehensive survey using a statewide stratified random sample. This sampling method will ensure results that are more representative of the Hawaiian community than past surveys, such as Alu Like's whose samples were limited to a particular group. The PS/NA is, therefore, an important project whieh may not benefit you immediately but in the long run will be instru-

mental in developing programs to benefit the Hawaiian community. When you are asked to participate in the DOH's Heahh Surveillance Survey and the OHA Population Survey/Needs Assessment, please kokua and say "Yes" to these worthwhile efforts.