How online discussion boards informed our study of what ‘news’ means to Americans
We share the “why” and “how” behind our use of an online discussion board as a qualitative research method.
A behind-the-scenes blog about research methods at Pew Research Center.
For our latest findings, visit pewresearch.org.
Latest from Decoded
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How adding a ‘Don’t know’ response option can affect cross-national survey results
In our surveys, people are much less likely to skip questions online than when speaking to interviewers in person or on the phone; we explore how offering a “Don’t know” option in online surveys affects results.
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What Twitter users say versus what they do: Comparing survey responses with observed behaviors
We explore the connection between Americans’ survey responses and their digital activity using data from our past Twitter research.
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Assessing the effects of generation using age-period-cohort analysis
In this piece, we demonstrate how to conduct age-period-cohort analysis, a statistical tool, to determine the effects of generation.
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Can machines compete with humans in transcribing audio? A case study using sermons from U.S. religious services
To test whether machine transcription would be practical for studies of sermons in 2019 and 2020, we compared human and machine transcriptions of snippets from a random sample of 200 audio and video sermons.
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Identifying partisan ‘leaners’ in cross-national surveys
In 2022, we experimented with a new question in cross-national surveys to capture the international equivalent of U.S. partisan “leaners.”
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How we review code at Pew Research Center
As part of our quality control process, we review code with a series of interim reviews during a project and a formalized code check at the end.
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Nonresponse rates on open-ended survey questions vary by demographic group, other factors
Demographic characteristics and other factors, such as the devices that respondents use to take surveys, are tied to Americans’ willingness to engage with open-ended questions.
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Testing survey questions about a hypothetical military conflict between China and Taiwan
Given the complexities of geopolitics, how might wording affect responses to a question about a hypothetical conflict between China and Taiwan?
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How we keep our online surveys from running too long
While there is no magic length that an online survey should be, Pew Research Center caps the length of its online American Trends Panel surveys at 15 minutes.
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What we learned from creating a custom graphics package in R using ggplot2
Building informative and digestible data visualizations is a foundational aspect of Pew Research Center’s work.
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To search or browse all of Pew Research Center findings and data by topic, visit pewresearch.org