Senior research staff answers questions from readers relating to all the areas covered by our seven projects ranging from polling techniques and findings, to media, technology, religious, demographic and global attitudes trends.

With fully a quarter of the U.S. adult population now relying solely on cell phone service, pollsters and other survey researchers face a difficult decision as to whether to include cell phones in their samples. A joint study by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and the Pew Internet & American Life Project takes an up-to-date look at the potential biases in findings based on landline-only surveys.

Summary of Findings Americans have been highly focused on the massive earthquake that struck Haiti Jan. 12. Not only is the disaster clearly the public’s top news story, fully 70% say it is the story they are talking about with friends. Overall interest in news about the Haiti earthquake is on par with interest in […]

There is a sizable gap between the expectations that young and middle-aged adults have about old age and the actual experiences reported by older adults themselves.

The final presidential debate was the top campaign storyline last week. And both candidates rolled out major economic packages. But perhaps the most memorable event was the media descending on an unlikely new voice of the working class.

Even the Palin phenomenon took a back seat last week as a profound crisis in the financial markets dominated the headlines. In a campaign season of constantly changing storylines, will this become the dominant issue that determines the outcome?

Some of the nation’s leading journalists gathered in Key West, Fla., in December, 2008, for the Pew Forum’s biannual Faith Angle Conference on religion, politics and public life. Vali Nasr, author of the 2006 book, The Shia Revival, surveyed the geo-political landscape of today’s Middle East, arguing that the 2003 invasion of Iraq has fundamentally […]