College students’ satisfaction with their courses fell sharply after the sudden shift to online learning in the coronavirus pandemic, with courses often lacking recommended elements of online instruction and students struggling to stay motivated, many challenged by uneven access to internet connectivity. 

Still, a new national survey finds courses that included more engaging elements of online instruction saw substantially higher levels of student satisfaction, offering a constructive path forward in the fall semester ahead.

The results and others come from a newly released, random-sample national survey of 1,008 college students, produced by Langer Research Associates for the education technology nonprofit Digital Promise, with data collection via the Ipsos KnowledgePanel®. See the news release from Digital Promise and its research partner Tyton Partners here and the full report here, as well as additional coverage by the online publication Inside Higher Ed. 

We’ve had a busy presentation schedule recently. Among our outreach activities:
 
Gary Langer joined Courtney Kennedy of Pew Research Center and Trent Buskirk of Bowling Green State University in a June 17 webinar for journalists covering public opinion surveys, co-sponsored by SciLine, a project of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Statistical Association.
 
Gary’s also given two similar presentations on the SEAN COVID-19 Survey Archive, one in a June 4 webinar convened by the World Association for Public Opinion Research and another at the June 11 virtual annual meeting of the American Association for Public Opinion Research.
 
Also at the AAPOR conference, Gary presented on “The Pandemic Election” and on management of probability-based online surveys from a practitioner’s perspective; Christine Filer presented on a study we produced for ESPN on the roots of sports superstardom; and Yulia Baskakova presented on a study we produced on public views of implicit bias, included as a chapter in the forthcoming Cambridge Handbook of Implicit Bias and Racism.

Our latest ABC News/Washington Post poll covered the 2020 presidential election, the COVID-19 pandemic and intention to get a coronavirus vaccination when available. Beyond ABC and the Post, we’ve seen coverage of our election analysis by CNN, Politico, TIME, USA Today, The Hill, Fox News, China Daily, The Atlantic, Newsday, International Business Times and The Guardian; pickup of our report on public attitudes and experiences relating to the coronavirus by Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report; and reports on our vaccination results by The Hill, The Washington Times and New York Daily News, among others.

A new piece in the journal Survey Practice gives the back story on our SEAN COVID-19 Survey Archive, an open-access, searchable archive of hundreds of probability-based surveys on the pandemic that we’ve produced and maintain in support of the Societal Experts Action Network. Sign up at the archive for our weekly summaries of the latest COVID-19 surveys.

The Societal Experts Action Network (SEAN) is a group dedicated to supporting critical social, behavioral and economic inquiry relating to the COVID-19 pandemic. Last week we launched two new resources to support its work: An open-access archive of public opinion surveys on COVID-19 and a weekly summary of key results.

The archive, at COVID-19.parc.us.com, houses probability-based survey data and reports measuring public attitudes, behavior and experiences related to the pandemic. Users can search and retrieve individual questions and all related materials, including questionnaires, datasets and reports, as available.

The latest weekly summary of survey results ending April 10th is available here. These summaries also are archived on the SEAN COVID-19 Survey Archive.

The archive currently contains U.S. surveys. Most have been donated by their producers, many of whom are providing additional materials, including datasets and scripted questionnaires, for which we are grateful. We’ll be expanding the collection and aim to include international studies as well. 

If you have produced a survey that you would like to be considered for inclusion, see our Contributors’ Guide. Write us to request administrative rights to upload materials directly or with comments or suggestions.

Tracking the vast impacts of the coronavirus outbreak on the American public, our most recent ABC News/Washington Post poll finds that 77 percent of Americans report disruption in their lives because of the crisis and a third say they or an immediate family member have been laid off or lost a job. It’s been picked up by CNN Politics, Politico, The Hill, Townhall, The Washington Times, Newsweek and the Daily Mail, among others. The poll also looked forward to November 2020, with election coverage by Bloomberg, Politico, USA Today and The Guardian.

Our Bloomberg® Consumer Comfort Index™ measures the impact of the crisis on the public’s economic attitudes; see these reports at Bloomberg News and Business Insider.

Our ABC News/Washington Post poll leading up to the Iowa caucuses covered the state of the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination as well as public attitudes toward impeachment, the 2020 presidential election and Donald Trump’s handling of the situation with Iran. It’s been picked up by The New York Times (here and here), MSNBC, Vox, Newsmax, Politico (here and here), The Guardian, The Hill, Townhall, Military Times and local media including Dayton Daily News and KGAN TV in Cedar Rapids, Iowa – among others. 

Our new ABC News/Washington Post poll on impeachment proceedings against Donald Trump has been reported by news organizations – beyond ABC and the Post – including The New York Times, USA Today, CNN, Vanity Fair, The Hill, Business Insider and local media such as KOLO TV in Reno, Nevada.

Catching up on this – one of our proudest accomplishments this past year is a study we conducted for the American Statistical Association on its members’ experiences of sexual misconduct and gender-based discrimination at ASA events and in other academic or professional settings.

Among women who participated in the study, 33 percent reported at least one incident of sexually inappropriate behavior or gender-based discrimination at one or more ASA events. Many reported repeat occurrences, including in the recent past. Most common was gender-based disrespect or condescension, followed by different treatment (e.g., in the quality or nature of assignments) based on sex or gender.

Fourteen percent reported having experienced sexual harassment or behavior that may have been harassing. Many more, 58 percent, reported experiences of sexual harassment or possible harassment in a workplace, graduate program or other career-related venue or meeting unrelated to the ASA. Qualitative comments underscored feelings of being demeaned personally and disrespected professionally, with consequent emotions including frustration, anger, resentment and self-doubt.

The ASA presented our findings at its annual meeting last summer and has used them – including policy recommendations offered by more than 800 of its members – in formulating new policies and procedures designed to address sexual misconduct and gender-based discrimination at the association’s events.

Read the ASA’s summary and our full report to the association.

The ABC News/Washington Post poll is one of just six public opinion surveys to be awarded an A+ rating for methodology and accuracy by FiveThirtyEight this week, out of 430 surveys the polling analysis website reviewed. It’s a three-peat for the ABC/Post poll, produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates: We previously received A+ grades from FiveThirtyEight in 2016 and 2018 alike.