PLUS: Introducing our Election News Pathways project

[link removed]


------------------------------------------------------------

February 18, 2020


** Methods
------------------------------------------------------------

A quarterly digest of the Center's latest methodological research and data science discoveries · Subscribe ↗ ([link removed])

------------------------------------------------------------

[link removed]



** Assessing the risks to online polls from bogus respondents ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------

More than 80% of the public polls used to track key indicators of U.S. public opinion, such as the president’s approval rating or support for Democratic presidential candidates, are conducted using online opt-in polling. Based on data gathered from over 60,000 interviews across six online sources, a new Pew Research Center study ([link removed]) evaluates three prominent methods for recruiting online poll respondents (opt-in survey panels, a crowdsourcing website and address-recruited survey panels) looking for “bogus,” or untrustworthy, respondents. The study finds that no method of online polling is perfect, but there are notable differences across approaches with respect to the risks posed by bogus interviews.
* Access the survey dataset ([link removed])


[link removed]



** Pew Research Center’s Election News Pathways project ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------

In January, Pew Research Center launched its new Election News Pathways project ([link removed]) , a yearlong initiative exploring how Americans’ news habits relate to what they learn and think about the 2020 U.S. presidential election. Powered by multiple surveys conducted on the Center’s American Trends Panel throughout the year, a core feature of this project is a digital, interactive tool ([link removed]) that allows you to dig in and examine election-related survey questions by media trait or demographic group.
* Explore the data tool ([link removed])
* Guide to using the tool ([link removed])
* Create an account to pull data from our API ([link removed])
* Q&A: How Pew Research Center evaluated Americans’ trust in 30 news sources ([link removed])


[link removed]



** The digital pulpit: A nationwide analysis of online sermons ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------

Many surveys have asked Americans about their religious affiliations, beliefs and practices, but less is known about what churchgoing Americans hear each week during religious services. A December Pew Research Center analysis ([link removed]) begins exploring this question by harnessing new computational techniques to identify, collect and analyze the sermons that U.S. churches livestream or share on their websites each week. To collect the data, the Center built new computational tools that identified every institution labeled as a church in the Google Places application programming interface (API), then collected and transcribed all the sermons publicly posted on a representative sample of their websites during an eight-week period.
* Q&A: Why we studied American sermons and how we did it ([link removed])




** Want to understand the 2020 census? Take our new email course ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------

The U.S. census is a complicated, crucial task unlike any other, with many challenges that include growing public reluctance to answer surveys. In 2020, the Census Bureau will ask most people to respond online, which is a big change from the past. The resulting numbers will guide political decisions, federal funding and research for the next decade. To understand the past, present and future of the U.S. census, you can sign up for our new five-part email mini-course ([link removed]) about the 2020 census. Think you are a census aficionado? Test your knowledge with our new quiz ([link removed]) .



** Democrats on Twitter more liberal, less focused on compromise than those not on the platform ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------

For a recent analysis ([link removed]) from our Data Labs team, researchers measured Democrats’ attitudes and candidate preferences, and also examined the Twitter profiles of a representative sample of U.S. adult Democrats who had volunteered their Twitter handles to measure their online activities and behaviors – specifically the share who follow various candidates and elected officials. This allowed researchers to compare the attitudes of Democrats on Twitter from those off of the platform.



** Q&A: How and why we studied online dating in the U.S. ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------

One of the long-standing themes of the Center’s work is studying how Americans find romantic partners and interact with loved ones. In an interview on our Fact Tank blog ([link removed]) , Monica Anderson, associate director of internet and technology research, addresses how and why we studied online dating in the United States for our new report ([link removed]) examining the virtues and downsides of dating sites and apps.



** New on 'Decoded' ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------

Pew Research Center’s Decoded ([link removed]) blog focuses on the “how” behind our numbers. The blog features content ranging from survey methods, to data science, to data visualization, and allows researchers to build on and engage with our work. Explore some of our latest posts:
* How can researchers track changes in public opinion when there’s a shift in survey mode? ([link removed])
* Measuring community type in Europe, from big cities to country villages ([link removed])
* Evaluating what makes a U.S. community urban, suburban or rural ([link removed])




** Featured datasets
------------------------------------------------------------

Pew Research Center makes its data available to the public for secondary analysis after a period of time. All of the Center’s available datasets can be downloaded here ([link removed]) . See this post ([link removed]) for more information on how to use our datasets and contact us at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]?subject=Question%20about%20datasets) with any questions.

Election News Pathways November 2019 Survey ([link removed])
Survey conducted Oct. 29-Nov. 11, 2019, among 12,043 U.S. adults.

American Trends Panel Wave 36 (gender and leadership) ([link removed])
Survey conducted June 19-July 2, 2018, among 4,587 U.S. adults.

2017 Survey of U.S. Muslims ([link removed])
Survey conducted Jan. 23-May 2, 2017, among 1,001 Muslim American adults 18 years old and older.


** Job openings ([link removed])
------------------------------------------------------------

Senior Survey Methodologist ([link removed])


Communications Associate (religion, internet and technology, science and society) ([link removed])


Associate Web Developer ([link removed])




** Support Pew Research Center
------------------------------------------------------------

Please support Pew Research Center with a contribution on the Center’s behalf to our parent organization, The Pew Charitable Trusts.

DONATE ([link removed])


------------------------------------------------------------

Newsletter preferences ([link removed])

View in browser ([link removed])

Unsubscribe ([link removed])

Facebook ([link removed])

Twitter ([link removed])

Instagram ([link removed])

Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank. As a neutral source of data and analysis, Pew Research Center does not take policy positions.

© 2020 Pew Research Center