The grant will be used for questionnaire development utilizing interview and focus group material and to fund a meeting of an international research team of scholars from Tatarstan (Russia), Estonia, Kazakhstan, and the United States, which she leads. The international meeting will be in Kazan, Tatarstan in 2010.

In addition, during the Fall 2009, Professor Kaplan will travel to Kazakhstan in connection with the conduct of six focus groups of ethnic Russians and Kazakhs.  This is made possible by a Faculty Research Grant from the Academic Senate that she has received for 2009-2010.  Transcripts of these focus groups will be used along with interviews and focus groups already completed in Tatarstan, Russia, and Estonia for the development of the survey questions probing identity.