1. Ethical Issues in Studying
Minorities and Indigenous
Peoples
Eileen Luna-Firebaugh & Kate Spilde,
Arizona State University &
San Diego State University
November 14, 2010

2. Public Policy Questions
• Concerns about impacts on minorities and
indigenous peoples mirror larger gaming
industry:
• Relationship between tribal gaming industry and a
set of economic or social outcomes, including
impact on nearby populations;
• Impacts on gamblers themselves.

3. Tribal Community
Concerns
• Research or recovery needs within minority or
indigenous communities may not mirror
mainstream public policy questions
• Non-Natives bring intervention frameworks
and tools that may not be appropriate or
necessary or meaningful
• Important to look, listen and learn

4. What we Know
• Tribal gaming industry has brought income
and employment benefits to tribal and non-
tribal communities
• Economic and social indicators reveal
improvements in education and family income
• Poverty and unemployment decrease with the
introduction of tribal gaming

5. References
• www.policymatters.ucr.edu
• www.ksg.harvard.edu/hpaied
• www.sdsu.edu/htm
• www.indiangaming.org
• www.ncai.org
• www.nigc.gov
kspilde@mail.sdsu.edu

6. Tribal Community
Research Challenges
• Myths about social costs persist due to
perceived lack of transparency and real lack
of data
• Paradox of transparency for tribal
governments:
• Releasing tribal or gaming data can improve public
relations and support research/policy analysis
• Tribal resources/rights are more easily targeted
when they are well documented (revenue sharing)

7. Indian Gaming
Regulatory Act
• “Congress finds that --
• (4) a principle goal of Federal Indian policy is to
promote tribal economic development, tribal self-
sufficiency, and strong tribal governments”

8. Need for New Metrics
• Downstream benefits rarely captured or considered
• Tribal gaming suggests and prompts further
economic development, government innovation and
partnership creation
• Current research methods understate the social and
economic benefits because they show up in
additional locations and populations, not datasets
• Many researchers fail to make long-term data
commitments to tribal communities.

9. Need for Collaboration
• Refrain from imposing outside solutions
• Look for strengths and acknowledge what is
working and offer encouragement
• Stay objective and non-political
• View your work as service and let go of the
notion of “helping” or “fixing”
• Don’t take yourself too seriously

10. Impact on Gamblers
• Zitzow, D. (1996) Comparative study of problematic gambling
behaviors between American Indian and non-Indian adults in a
northern plains reservation.
• Volberg, R.A. & Abbott, M.W. (1997) Gambling and problem
gambling among indigenous peoples.
• Wardman, D. & el-Guebaly, N. (2001) Problem and Pathological
Gambling in North American Aboriginal Populations: A Review of
the Empirical Literature.
• Costello, E.J. (2003) Relationships Between Poverty and
Psychopathology : A Natural Experiment .

11. Challenges
• SOGS not validated for native/minority communities
• Native urban communities not studied in spite of higher rates of
alcoholism and limited access to services
• Poor generalizability since studies don’t account for community
gambling opportunities
• Tribal community-level factors not included (rate of
unemployment, presence/absence of community resources/
social agencies, lack of recreational outlets)
• Difficult to capture impacts of the stress of reservation life
• Grief from residential/boarding schools poorly understood &
rarely included

12. Long –Term
Commitments
• One shortcoming of outside efforts has been
tendency to exploit the opportunity for
personal gain and then abandon the
community
• Learn the language, songs and ceremonies
• Attend community activities and pitch in
however you can
• Include fun and laughter wherever possible

13. Need for
Qualitative Research
• Fear of approaching tribal governments for
permission
• Focus on long-term commitment to tribal
relationship-building not datasets
• Lack of respect for qualitative work generally,
dismissing it as anecdotal, unscientific or
biased (“just stories”)

14. Imperfect Methods
• Important to continue to pursue research on tribal
gaming impacts in spite of imperfect methods
• Gambling policy continues to evolve in spite of the
research limitations
• Evolving methods and limited datasets can contribute
to public policy discussions while being shaped by
them.