The hypothesis of demographic revitalization may also be tested quantitatively by examining both inter- and intratribal differences in Ghost Dance participation of American Indian peoples. If my reasoning in Chapter 3 is correct, an unfavorable demographic situation of an American Indian tribe at the time of the movements led to that tribe's participation. Conversely, nonparticipation would have indicated a more favorable demographic situation at that time. The same thing may be said of subdivisions within a tribe. This theory, of course, presupposes tribal knowledge of the movements; without such knowledge, nonparticipation has little, if any, meaning.

Variables used for analysis

In order to test my hypothesis in these ways, I have used seven basic variables.

The first variable is, of course, American Indian participation or failure to participate in the Ghost Dance movements, either in 1870 or 1890 (or both), given knowledge of those movements. This is the basic, dependent variable, the object of “explanation.” Since both inter- and intratribal analyses are of interest, this variable encompasses a number of American Indian tribes for the intertribal analysis, as well as the subdivisions of a tribe participating in the 1870 dance and a tribe participating in the 1890 dance for the intratribal analysis. The second, third, and fourth variables are demographic ones to explain the differences in participation. The second and third ones are population declines for the group.