Methods 101: Mode effects
How does the way a poll is conducted influence the answers people give?
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Methods
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Phone vs. online surveys: Why do respondents’ answers sometimes differ by mode?
Pew Research Center conducts surveys over the phone and, increasingly, online. But these two formats don’t always produce identical results.
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How highly religious Americans view evolution depends on how they’re asked about it
Evolution remains a contentious issue. When asked about it, highly religious Americans’ responses can vary depending on how the question is asked.
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State of the Union 2019: How Americans see major national issues
Here is a look at public opinion on important issues facing the United States, from Americans’ views of trade to the U.S.-Mexico border wall.
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‘Good jobs’ vs. ‘jobs’: Survey experiments can measure the effects of question wording – and more
The way polling questions are asked can influence people’s answers. Survey experiments are one way to measure the degree to which different questions elicit different answers.
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In 116th Congress, at least 13% of lawmakers are immigrants or the children of immigrants
The 69 immigrants and children of immigrants in the 116th Congress claim heritage in 38 countries and are overwhelmingly Democrats.
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Country-Specific Methodology
Detailed information on Pew Research Center international survey meethodology, such as mode of interview, sampling design, margin of error, and design effect, for each country we survey, organized by survey, country and year.
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How asking about your sleep, smoking or yoga habits can help pollsters verify their findings
Pew Research Center uses benchmarking questions to ensure our surveys are accurate. Learn why and how we use these questions.
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Despite recent violence, Chicago is far from the U.S. ‘murder capital’
St. Louis led the nation with 66.1 murders per 100,000 people in 2017. It was followed by Baltimore, Detroit, New Orleans and Baton Rouge.
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Weekday elections set the U.S. apart from many other advanced democracies
Many of the millions of Americans voting in Tuesday’s midterm elections will have to do so while working around the demands of their jobs – hitting their polling places before work, taking an extra-long lunch break or going afterward and hoping to make it before the polls close. As they stand in line, many of them may wonder why it is that the United States votes on a Tuesday, of all days.
