The controversy over what the Facebook researchers did may be overshadowing other important discussions, specifically conversations about what they really found—not much, actually—and the right and wrong way to think about and report findings based on statistical analyses of Big Data.
One of the strongest reactions we have received from some quiz-takers is frustration over the either-or choices each question offers. This is a legitimate concern, but there is a reason the questions are asked the way they are: The intent is not to put people “in a box” but rather to understand how their values across multiple political dimensions are related to each other.
The goal of the political typology is to sort people into homogeneous groups, based on their political values and attitudes. It’s an effort to categorize people politically to help us better understand the complexities of the current political landscape.
In a histogram, it’s the area under the curve that matters, not the height of any specific point. The total area under the curve is equal to 100% of respondents, but we are most interested in where respondents fall along the horizontal axis.
Throughout its history, the Pew Research Center has periodically conducted major surveys that take an in-depth look at important trends in American political attitudes and behavior. Today we released one such survey on political polarization, which is arguably the defining feature of early 21st century American politics. This is reflected not only in the public’s […]
The new approach reflects the bureau's evolving policy on reporting household relationships, as it tries to keep pace with social change.
Same-sex marriage is now legal in Washington, D.C., and 17 states (and Arkansas will join them, if a lower-court judge’s ruling last week is upheld). Now the federal government’s task is to produce an accurate count of same-sex married couples.
Fact Tank sat down with James Bell, Pew Research’s director of international survey research, to discuss how the center designs and implements its surveys in places of conflict like Ukraine.
Americans of mixed race, American Indians, Pacific Islanders and Hispanics were among those most likely to check different boxes.
This links to a FactTank posting about the Census Bureau's review of questions on the American Community Survey. The agency may drop questions if it determines they do not yield useful, quality data that cannot be found elsewhere.
While survey research in the United States is a year-round undertaking, the public’s focus on polling is never more intense than during the run-up to a presidential election.
Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP) is now the Center’s principal source of data for U.S. public opinion research.
A new telephone survey experiment finds that an opinion poll drawn from a commercial voter file produces results similar to those from a sample based on random-digit dialing.
An experiment comparing responses to 27 questions fielded on both a telephone and a web survey found no significant mode differences in overall opinion about Trump or many of his signature policy positions.
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About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts.
