Public Opinion Polling Basics
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Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Methodological Research
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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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Gender and Jobs in Online Image Searches
Men are overrepresented in online image search results for popular jobs. Women appear lower on the page than men in many of these searches.
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How far Americans live from the closest hospital differs by community type
Rural Americans live an average of 10.5 miles from the nearest hospital, compared with 5.6 miles for people in suburban areas and 4.4 in urban areas.
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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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Americans who find meaning in these four areas have higher life satisfaction
Four topics are universally associated with higher levels of life satisfaction: a person’s good health, romantic partner, friends and career.
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Comparing MRP to raking for online opt-in polls
In a recent study about online opt-in polling, Pew Research Center compared a variety of weighting approaches and found that complex…
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Many Turn to YouTube for Children’s Content, News, How-To Lessons
An analysis of Youtube videos suggested by the site’s recommendation engine finds that users are directed toward progressively longer and more popular content
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Exit polls, election surveys and more: A guide for the 2018 midterms
On election night 2018, besides the exit polls there will be an additional source of data on who voted and why, developed by The Associated Press, Fox News and NORC at the University of Chicago and based on a very different methodology. That means that depending on where you go for election news, you may get a somewhat different portrait of this year’s electorate.
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What voter files can tell us about trends in party registration
Commercial voter files hold great promise for studying certain aspects of American politics. These files, compiled by private vendors from…
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‘Defining the universe’ is essential when writing about survey data
Given the wide range of people we speak to for our polls – and the issues we ask them about – it’s important to be as clear as possible about exactly who says what. In research circles, this practice is sometimes called “defining the universe.”
Signature Reports
A Field Guide to Polling: Election 2020 Edition
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.
Comparing Two Types of Online Survey Samples
Pew Research Center conducted a study to compare the accuracy of six online surveys of U.S. adults – three from probability-based panels and three from opt-in sources. On average, the absolute error on opt-in samples was about twice that of probability-based panels.
Q&A: What is the American Trends Panel, and how has it changed?
Members of the American Trends Panel can now take our surveys online or over the phone with an interviewer.
How Public Polling Has Changed in the 21st Century
A new study found that 61% of national pollsters used different methods in 2022 than in 2016. And last year, 17% of pollsters used multiple methods to sample or interview people – up from 2% in 2016.
