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Feds Spend $507,132 Studying The ‘Asian Ethnic Hierarchy’

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National Science Foundation (NSF) officials have awarded $507,132 to survey Asian-Americans’ political behaviors and “how they construct an Asian ethnic hierarchy,” a federally-funded researcher said.

The federal tax dollars will fund the third National Asian American Survey, which will research Asian-American’s personal experiences, political preferences, stereotypes, and financial status, among other topics.

“Never before has a survey focused on how Asian ethnic groups view each other and how they construct an Asian ethnic hierarchy,” University of California Irvine co-principal investigator Jennifer Lee said in a statement.

“Findings from the survey, which will be released in 2017, will prove an accurate portrait of the Asian-American population, dispel myths and correct misconceptions about the group,” the University of California statement continued.

Researchers will conduct a telephone survey in at least 11 languages to collect data from an estimated 3,600 Asian-Americans in the six largest ethnic groups: Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Japanese and Vietnamese.

The study is necessary due to the fast-growing rate of the Asian-American population, according to the University of California. The Asian-American population grew by 46 percent between 2000 and 2010, compared to only a 10 percent growth for the overall U.S. population.

Census data, however, shows the Asian-American population rate slowed to less than 13 percent from 2010 to 2014, though that’s still faster than the entire U.S. population.

Researchers from four campuses will lead the study: the University of California Riverside; the University of California Irvine; the University of California Berkeley; and the University of Maryland (UMD).

“Funding from the National Science Foundation shows that research on Asian-Americans is becoming more of a national priority,” UMD’s Janelle Wong said.

Sen. Jeff Flake recently released a report highlighting 20 questionable federally-funded studies, many of which were sponsored by NSF. The Arizona Republican questioned why tax dollars went to such experiments rather than funding research for Zika treatment. (VIDEO: Feds Spent $35 Million On Weird Research, Like Why Primates Love Metallica)

President Barack Obama has pushed Congress to approve $1.9 billion to combat the Zika virus.

The NSF has seen researcher misconduct, such as plagiarism and falsified data, skyrocket in recent years, TheDCNF previously reported.

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