President Harry S. Truman’s victory in 1948 came as a surprise to the Chicago Tribune and many voters around the country, but not to researchers at the University of Michigan.
In that year, researchers Angus Campbell and Robert Kahn launched a national pilot study on attitudes about foreign affairs at the Survey Research Center, including two questions about the upcoming presidential election. Their survey indicated the race was actually too close to call, and their conclusion was borne out on election night.
It was the first significant research victory for the group of researchers that would go on to found the Institute for Social Research, now celebrating 75 years of research into crucial areas of the social sciences.
ISR’s ongoing research into consumer behaviors, the American electorate and the health of the country’s oldest and youngest people continues to provide valuable insights and break new ground.
“The Institute for Social Research continues to innovate in both substantive areas of scholarship and in the methods required to inform that work,” said ISR Director Kate Cagney. “We continue the legacy of our founders as we introduce social science theory and methods into new areas with attention to the societal implications of our work.”
ISR was founded in 1949, uniting the previously established Survey Research Center and the Research Center for Group Dynamics under one umbrella. In the years since, ISR has expanded its research footprint to include the five centers that now comprise the institute.
Those centers include the SRC, RCGD, the Population Studies Center, the Center for Political Studies, and the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. Together, they continue to carry out ISR’s ongoing mission to pursue social science in the public good.
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ISR’s 75 years of research have been highlighted by many noteworthy accomplishments. The analysis of the Truman-Dewey race in 1948 laid the groundwork for decades of political research, including the development of the influential Michigan Model of voter choice theory.
In the 1960s and 1970s, ISR was at the forefront of research on the attitudes and preferences of Black Americans, highlighted by the National Survey of Black Americans, which was launched in 1978 and continues to influence discussions about race and race-related issues to this day.
“ISR’s research legacy is long and deep,” said Michael Traugott, a research professor emeritus at the Center for Political Studies and co-chair of ISR’s 75th anniversary committee. “Projects established years ago continue to bear fruit today, and our researchers and staff carry on the spirit of innovation that launched ISR in 1949.”
ISR will mark its 75th anniversary with a research symposium Oct. 14-15, highlighting a number of ongoing projects. Across five keynote speeches, presenters will discuss ISR’s future in general and its specific work in a few different contexts.
Robert Groves, provost of Georgetown University and a former director of the Survey Research Center, will open the first day of the symposium with an address on ISR’s role in the social sciences.
He’ll be followed by Nicholas Valentino of ISR and Allison Harell of the University of Montreal, focusing on the nature of political parties and polarization in modern politics. Valentino is the principal investigator of ISR’s American National Election Studies, while Harell devotes her research work to investigating how social diversity affects the political world.
David Williams, a research professor at Harvard University, will address the changing nature of social context and how it can be measured in modern social science. Williams holds a Ph.D. in sociology from U-M and is a former faculty member.
The second day of the symposium opens with a joint keynote address from Jessica Faul and Colter Mitchell, both from ISR, speaking on social science research across the life course. Faul and Mitchell publish widely on aging and its social effects.
Finally, Frauke Kreuter of Ludwig Maximilian University and the University of Maryland will close the keynote addresses by looking to the future, specifically touching on how data collection processes and practices could change in the coming years.
“ISR’s 75th anniversary is the perfect intersection of its past and future,” said Grace Noppert, co-chair of the symposium committee. “We’re looking forward to honoring the legacy of all the great researchers that have contributed to what ISR has become, while anticipating the great things ISR will accomplish in our next 75 years.”
