The University of Iowa’s Center for Social Science Innovation (CSSI) in the Office of the Vice President for Research (OVPR) awarded two University of Iowa researchers the Surveying the Social World (SSW) opportunity, a competitive program that provides awardees with funding and support to collect high-quality, nationally representative survey data from 1,000 U.S. adults.
The investigators will receive end-to-end survey support from the CSSI research services team, including survey administration, programming, testing, deployment, and IRB compliance.
This year’s awardees will lead two cutting-edge projects that examine how Americans understand democracy and morality.
When Democratic Principles Conflict: Americans’ Conceptions of Democracy in an Electoral Context
Principal Investigator (PI): Seongjoon Ahn, assistant professor, political science, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS)
Does democracy mean the same thing to everyone? As the 2026 midterm elections approach, public debate increasingly centers on competing claims about what democracy requires. Yet we know surprisingly little about whether Americans share a common understanding of democracy or differ systematically in how they define it. This project examines Americans’ conceptions of democracy—how individuals understand and prioritize core democratic principles—and how those conceptions shape responses when democratic principles conflict. This survey measures conceptions of democracy using a novel battery of 18 democratic norm items. It will also include a randomized tradeoff experiment asking respondents to choose between competing democratic commitments. By combining multidimensional measurement with experimental design, the study provides a fine-grained account of how Americans prioritize democratic principles in practice.
Uncovering the Moral Backgrounds for Affective Polarization Using Computational Text Analysis
PI: Steven Hitlin, professor, sociology and criminology, CLAS
Co-Investigator: Donghyun “Henry” Kim, PhD candidate, sociology and criminology, CLAS
Americans today don't just disagree politically — they often seem to inhabit entirely different moral worlds. Using this survey, we will examine how people understand the values and moral commitments of social groups other than their own, particularly across political lines. Do Americans fundamentally misread each other's moral worldviews, or do they share more common ground than they realize? And how do these perceptions fuel the deep dislike many Americans feel toward those on the "other side"? Alongside traditional survey questions, respondents will describe in their own words how different groups express their values in everyday life. We will use computational text analysis to identify patterns in these open-ended responses — an approach that goes beyond what standard survey methods can capture. The findings will help clarify whether today's political divide stems from genuine moral differences or from systematic misunderstandings, with practical implications for conflict resolution and civic dialogue.
Additional Information
- Learn more about Surveying the Social World.
- Through SurveyHarvest, UI researchers may purchase survey questions to be deployed to 1,000 U.S. adults.
- Meet the awardees of CSSI’s inaugural Surveying the Social World initiative.
- Subscribe for emails about CSSI news and opportunities in support of social science research, including Surveying the Social World.