Projects – Josh Pasek

When Will Twitter Data Mirror Survey Data?

August, 2015 by Josh Pasek

Josh Pasek

Survey data have long served as our central method for understanding the attitudes and behaviors of the public. Recently, however, some researchers have suggested that data from online social networking sites may be able to occupy this same space. In a number of projects, with multiple colleagues, I am working to…

When do people feel free to reject science?

February, 2015 by Josh Pasek

Josh Pasek

Researchers have long associated incorrect beliefs about science with a lack of scientific literacy. Recent work has revealed that some individuals may know the scientific consensus but nonetheless reject it. Thus far, it remains unclear whether individuals who know and reject science do so out of a limited understanding of…

Can Marketing Data Improve Survey Sampling?

December, 2011November, 2012 by Josh Pasek

Josh Pasek

Working in conjunction with GfK (Formerly Knowledge Networks), this project explores whether ancillary data purchased from consumer marketing companies can be used to accurately identify niche populations for survey research and to produce effective survey weights. We also assess the extent to which such ancillary data may be biased and…

How Have Racial Attitudes Influenced the Obama Administration?

August, 2011August, 2011 by Josh Pasek

Josh Pasek

In 2008, many predicted that the election of Barack Obama as President of the United States would fundamentally change racial attitudes in the country. This project compares racial attitudes before the 2008 election to similar attitudes in early 2010. This project explores both (1) how society’s attitudes on race have…

Does Campaign-Specific Political Knowledge Matter?

August, 2011 by Josh Pasek

Josh Pasek

While political scientists have long recognized the strong relationship between general political knowledge and voter turnout, less work has attempted to explore how knowing generalized political facts -- such as the proportion of Congress required to override a presidential veto -- might relate to participation. One possible mechanism linking the…

How Do Self-Selected Internet Samples Differ from Representative Samples?

August, 2011 by Josh Pasek

Josh Pasek

Using opt-in Internet samples for political data is far less expensive than most forms of traditional probability sampling. In some analyses of opt-in samples, researchers have found that opt-in sample estimators provide good approximations of electoral results. In others, the differences have been both highly significant and substantively important. These…

Candidate Name Order

August, 2011August, 2011 by Josh Pasek

Josh Pasek

Do candidates listed earlier on the ballot perform better than those listed later? This research seeks to understand how candidate performance relates to ballot placement through an evaluation of the influence of name order in California general elections. Project has been conducted in conjunction with: Daniel Schneider, Stanford University Alex…

Influence of Social Media on Political Information Environment

August, 2011 by Josh Pasek

Josh Pasek

This project seeks to understand how online social networks influence the political information environment of their users. Through a combination of surveys and Facebook application data, this research is assessing how much information is shared over Facebook, how much of that information reflects a user's pre-existing beliefs, how users perceive…