Racial classifi cation is a paramount concern in data collection
and analysis for American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) and has
far-reaching implications in health research. We examine how different
racial classifi cations affect survey weights and consequently change healthrelated
indicators for the AI/AN population in California. Using a very large
random population-based sample of AI/ANs, we compared the impact of
three weighting strategies on counts and rates of selected health indicators.
We found that different weights examined in this study did not change
the percentage estimates of health-related variables for AI/ANs, but did
infl uence the population total estimates dramatically. In survey data, different
racial classifi cations and tabulations of AI/ANs could yield discrepancies
in weighted estimates for the AI/AN population. Policy makers need to
be aware that the choice of racial classifi cation schemes for this racialpolitical
group can generally infl uence the data they use for decision making.