Courtney Kennedy

Director, Survey Research

Courtney Kennedy is director of survey research at Pew Research Center. In this role, she serves as the chief survey methodologist for the Center, providing guidance on all of its research and leading its methodology work. Prior to joining Pew Research Center, Kennedy served as vice president of the advanced methods group at Abt SRBI, where she was responsible for designing complex surveys, developing data collection methodologies and assessing data quality. Her work has been published in Public Opinion Quarterly, the Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology and the Journal of Official Statistics. She has worked as a statistical consultant on the U.S. Census Bureau’s decennial census and on multiple reports appearing in Newsweek. Kennedy has a doctorate from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree from the University of Maryland, both in survey methodology. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan. Kennedy has served as standards chair and conference chair of the American Association for Public Opinion Research.

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ReportFebruary 18, 2020

More than 80% of the public polls used to track key indicators of U.S. public opinion, such as the President’s approval rating or support for Democratic presidential candidates, are conducted using online opt-in polling.1 A new study by Pew Research Center finds that online polls conducted with widely-used opt-in sources contain small but measurable shares […]

ReportNovember 19, 2019

While survey research in the United States is a year-round undertaking, the public’s focus on polling is never more intense than during the run-up to a presidential election.

Fact TankOctober 25, 2019

While the notion that polls should include equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats makes some sense, it’s based on a misunderstanding of what polling is intended to do.

Fact TankJuly 16, 2019

The Center conducts polls in many countries other than the U.S. – but the methodology behind our international surveys can vary.

ReportMay 9, 2019

when designing an online survey questionnaire, there is more than one way to ask a respondent to select which options in a series applies to them.

ReportMarch 7, 2019

Access to mobile phones and social media is common across emerging economies. People around the world see certain benefits from these technologies, yet there are also concerns about their impact on children.

Fact TankFebruary 27, 2019

Response rates to telephone public opinion polls conducted by Pew Research Center have resumed their decline, to 7% in 2017 and 6% in 2018.

Fact TankFebruary 27, 2019

What does the migration to online polling mean for the country's trove of public opinion data gathered over the past four decades?

Fact TankFebruary 7, 2019

Pew Research Center conducts surveys over the phone and, increasingly, online. But these two formats don’t always produce identical results.

Fact TankAugust 6, 2018

Many online surveys are conducted using “nonprobability” or “opt-in” samples, which are generally easier and cheaper to conduct. In our latest Methods 101 video, we explore some of the features of nonprobability surveys and how they differ from traditional probability-based polls.

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Courtney Kennedy

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