Q&A: What works and what doesn’t when studying social media data
Ever since Friendster and Myspace gained popularity in the early 2000s, social scientists have been interested in studying the impact of…
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Publications
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U.S. adults are more religious than Western Europeans
American adults – both Christian and unaffiliated – are considerably more religious than their European counterparts by a variety of measures. For instance, about two-thirds of U.S. Christians pray daily, compared with a median of just 18% of Christians across 15 European countries.
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Many Facebook users don’t understand how the site’s news feed works
Around half of U.S. adults who use Facebook say they do not understand why certain posts but not others are included in their news feed. Older users are particularly likely to say they do not understand the workings of the news feed.
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Americans are changing their relationship with Facebook
Just over half of Facebook users have adjusted privacy settings in the past year. Around four-in-ten have taken a break from checking for several weeks or more.
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Trust in the military exceeds trust in other institutions in Western Europe and U.S.
Large majorities in eight Western European countries trust the military, ranging from 84% in France to 66% in Spain. Similarly, eight-in-ten Americans have confidence in the military.
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As debris piles up, Americans are skeptical enough will be done to limit space junk
Thousands of space launches have spawned a massive orbital junkyard. Many Americans are doubtful private companies will keep space clean of debris.
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Where the public stands on key issues that could come before the Supreme Court
Ahead of the Senate’s deliberations over Kavanaugh, here’s a look at where the public stands on some of the major legal, political and social issues that could come before the Supreme Court in the years ahead.
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Q&A: The challenges of creating a religious typology
This new analysis creates a typology that cuts across denominations, sorting Americans into seven groups, or “clusters,” based on their religious practices and values, their views about religion in general, and the sources of meaning and fulfillment in their lives. Rich Morin, a senior editor at the Center, explains how the study was put together, and discusses the role of cluster analysis in creating the typology.
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From the Solidly Secular to Sunday Stalwarts, a look at our new religious typology
Most American adults identify with a religion, describing themselves as Protestants, Catholics or Jews, to name just a few examples. But a new Pew Research Center analysis looks at beliefs and behaviors that cut across many religious identities, producing a new and revealing classification, or typology, of religion in America that sorts U.S. adults into seven cohesive groups.
