“Public Opinion Surveys: Attitudes, Knowledge, Perceptions, and Beliefs” – A Civic Engagement Lunch Talk Follow-Up
On November 15th, 2023, Professor of Public Policy, Management, and Analytics Dr. Allyson Holbrook presented at IPCE's Civic Engagement Lunch Talk series held on campus in Daley Hall. Her presentation was titled “Public Opinion Surveys: Attitudes, Knowledge, Perceptions, and Beliefs”. Her research was conducted in collaboration with Timothy P. Johnson and Evgenia Kapousouz from the University of Illinois-Chicago and Henning Silber from GESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences.
Professor Holbrook's research is in two areas. She studies how people's attitudes and beliefs are formed and change over time, and how these beliefs influence behavior, particularly in the realm of political issues and activism. She also studies how respondents to surveys think about and respond to the request to be surveyed and specific survey questions. Her teaching is primarily in the areas of research methods, particularly how to design and conduct survey research.
Dr. Holbrook and her team's research involved three studies to examine attitudes, knowledge, perceptions, and beliefs associated with public opinion surveys among adults. The studies included focus groups of Chicago residents to explore how they thought about public opinion surveys and their role in democracy. The second survey was a pilot test of measures to assess attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge about public opinion surveys. Finally, the third study involved measurement of attitudes, knowledge, and perceptions about public opinion surveys and included vignette experiments to assess how the characteristics of a survey affect perceptions of it.
Follow the link below to watch the entire lunch talk. We thank Professor Holbrook and her team for their wonderful research that helps further our understanding of effective strategies and tools for civic engagement! View our events tab on our website to stay up to date on future Civic Engagement Lunch Talks.
