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Pew Research Center is made up of intellectually curious people from across many fields, places and backgrounds. For decades, our expertise, best-in-class methods and commitment to high-quality, fact-based research have made us a trusted resource for leaders and everyday people around the world.
Our mission
We generate a foundation of facts that enriches public dialogue and supports sound decision-making. We are nonprofit, nonpartisan and nonadvocacy. We value independence, objectivity, accuracy, rigor, humility, transparency and innovation.
What do we mean by nonprofit? We are funded from charitable dollars. All our resources serve our mission. We do not do any work for hire.
What do we mean by nonpartisan? We maintain strict impartiality and never align with any political group, candidate or ideology.
What do we mean by nonadvocacy? We study people’s views and behaviors without an agenda. We don’t make policy recommendations or offer solutions. We design our work to explain the public, rather than try to persuade.
Read more about our mission.
Our research
We study a wide range of topics.
We decide what to study based on questions people are asking, changes happening in the world and gaps where clear information is hard to find. We focus on areas where our expertise, resources and intellectual curiosity can help people better understand the world around them.
We take our responsibility to inform the public seriously. Every step of our work goes through multiple layers of review to ensure it is high quality and fact based. We share our data and survey questions so that all can see the process and how we arrived at our results.
Our methods
We ask thousands of people of various ages, ethnicities and backgrounds to share what they think in a survey. We listen to what they say about jobs, politics, religion, education, health and more. We bring those voices together and summarize everything we hear. Before we publish anything, our work goes through several rounds of careful review to make sure it upholds our commitment to high-quality, fact-based research.
Surveys are only one tool for hearing and understanding people, and we augment that work with in-depth interviews, digital, economic and demographic data. And we’re always thoughtfully testing new tools and methods to capture an even fuller picture of what people are thinking and feeling.
Read more about our methods.
Our people
We are led by our president, Michael Dimock. Our experts combine the observational and storytelling skills of journalists with the analytical rigor of social scientists. Pew Research Center is stewarded by a nine-member volunteer board.
Pew Research Center is an equal opportunity employer and makes employment decisions without regard to race, ethnicity, gender or any other protected characteristics. In addition, the Center complies with all laws – including but not limited to antidiscrimination laws – when making business decisions such as the award of grants, contracts and fellowships in the pursuit of our charitable mission.
Our funding
Pew Research Center is a not-for-profit research organization. We receive funding from The Pew Charitable Trusts and other organizations that share our commitment to high-quality, fact-based research. We operate independently. Our leadership and staff decide what we study, and we make that research available free of charge. No funder or outside group influences our work. Read more about our funding.