Methodological Research

James Bell, Director of International Survey Research for the Pew Research Center, explains the methodology used by the Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project to assure the quality and accuracy of surveys conducted abroad.

Scott Keeter, Director of Survey Research for the Pew Research Center and president of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, explores the threats and opportunities in the field of survey research, and discusses steps that can be taken to help keep survey research relevant for democracy.

Overview For decades survey research has provided trusted data about political attitudes and voting behavior, the economy, health, education, demography and many other topics. But political and media surveys are facing significant challenges as a consequence of societal and technological changes. It has become increasingly difficult to contact potential respondents and to persuade them to […]

Starting in 2013, the Census Bureau would like all of the more than 3 million households that receive its American Community Survey to be pushed to respond online, instead of mailing back the traditional paper questionnaire. The bureau recently released results of a test of online response that had some encouraging results.

Question: Your surveys often show results based on “non-Hispanic whites” and “non-Hispanic blacks”. Why aren’t Hispanics counted in these categories?

The release of records from the 1940 Census will help people research their family history, although at first the records can only be searched by address, not name. This posting details some of the findings and methods of the 1940 Census.

The 1940 Census was notable in the history of census-taking because it was the first in which some questions were asked of sample of Americans. This change enabled the Census Bureau to add questions to the form that were relevant to the Great Depression, and opened the door to the widened use of sample surveys in later censuses.

Senior research staff answer questions from readers relating to all the areas covered by our seven projects, ranging from polling techniques and findings, to media, technology, religious, demographic and global attitudes trends.

The Census Bureau has just published the results from its new alternative measure of poverty, called the Supplemental Poverty Measure, and they differ notably from the poverty rates shown by the official measure that’s been used since the 1960s. A new report by the Pew Hispanic Center compares results under both measures for key demographic groups.

The poverty rate for Hispanics was 28.2% in 2010, higher than it was for blacks, non-Hispanic whites or Asians, and higher than the official poverty rate for Hispanics, 26.7%, reported by the Census Bureau.