Miami’s survey of Ohio voters gives students chance to create, engage with data
Election poll referenced in New York Times, across social media
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Published
Miami’s survey of Ohio voters gives students chance to create, engage with data
•
Published
From the New York Times to the popular social media platform X, a recent survey of Ohio voters from Miami University students has attracted a wide audience.
Students from Kevin Reuning’s Public Opinion Lab and Monica Schneider’s U.S. Campaigns and Elections class combined for the 7-minute survey, which found tight races in Ohio for the presidential and senate races, as well as for the state’s Issue 1.
Reuning, an associate professor of Political Science, said they received 859 total responses for the text-based poll. Using vendor Survey 160 for the texting portion, Reuning’s students reached out to over 40,000 Ohio voters with wide-ranging questions on the candidates and issues surrounding the 2024 election.
“It’s an opportunity to do something that is exciting and to get students engaged, as opposed to giving them data and having them analyze it,” Reuning said. “They’ve now helped create the data.”
In a previous election cycle, Schneider, a professor of Political Science, performed an exit poll with students in what Schneider described as the “pen and pencil days.”
A text-based poll allowed for more efficient data collection that was also representative of the entire state. The text-based software also allowed for interviewer consistency and helped guide students through the process.
Schneider’s students helped create and refine questions used in the final survey.
“I wanted them to participate in this election in a really cool way. How many times do you get to do a real poll?” Schneider said. “Polls are powerful leading up to an election, and I wanted our students to be a part of that.”
The New York Times referenced Miami’s work in its round up of Ohio U.S. Senate polls, along with data collected by the Washington Post, ActiVote, and more.
Adrian Dooley, a junior from St. Paris, Ohio, is part of Reuning’s Public Opinion Lab. Dooley watched the results of Miami’s poll gain traction on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“It was a little surreal to see something that I worked on and helped craft in tweets with millions of views and referenced in different news articles,” said Dooley, a double major in Political Science and Data Analytics.
“This is the career I intend to go into, so I came in with some background knowledge. It was most surprising how complicated it could be to craft survey questions that are effective. There is a lot more than one would initially think to create a question that is fair, doesn’t create bias, and that everyone can understand.”
While the students’ survey results may be in, their work is not yet done. Data needs to be analyzed and compared to election results.
“It’s not magic,” Reuning said of survey results. “I want them to be critical consumers of how polls are used. By doing this and seeing the reaction, it will help them understand the data better. It’s a pretty close electorate, and there are some interesting things for them to look at.”
Prior to sending the survey, Reuning’s students learned about the history of polling, different models and methods, and how to contact people, while students in Schneider’s U.S. Campaigns and Elections class learned theories of why people vote the way they do.
The classes combined to create the questions, eventually voting on their favorites to add to the survey, which was supported by Miami’s Menard Family Center for Democracy and the Center for Career Exploration and Success.
“Our job is to think of ways to engage our students and find projects where they can take what they’re learning in the classroom and apply it to the real world,” Schneider said. “This was one such opportunity, and our students did a really great job.”
Students from Kevin Reuning’s Public Opinion Lab and Monica Schneider’s U.S. Campaigns and Elections class combined for the 7-minute survey, which found tight races in Ohio for the presidential and senate races, as well as for the state’s Issue 1.
Reuning, an associate professor of Political Science, said they received 859 total responses for the text-based poll. Using vendor Survey 160 for the texting portion, Reuning’s students reached out to over 40,000 Ohio voters with wide-ranging questions on the candidates and issues surrounding the 2024 election.
“It’s an opportunity to do something that is exciting and to get students engaged, as opposed to giving them data and having them analyze it,” Reuning said. “They’ve now helped create the data.”
In a previous election cycle, Schneider, a professor of Political Science, performed an exit poll with students in what Schneider described as the “pen and pencil days.”
A text-based poll allowed for more efficient data collection that was also representative of the entire state. The text-based software also allowed for interviewer consistency and helped guide students through the process.
Schneider’s students helped create and refine questions used in the final survey.
“I wanted them to participate in this election in a really cool way. How many times do you get to do a real poll?” Schneider said. “Polls are powerful leading up to an election, and I wanted our students to be a part of that.”
The New York Times referenced Miami’s work in its round up of Ohio U.S. Senate polls, along with data collected by the Washington Post, ActiVote, and more.
Adrian Dooley, a junior from St. Paris, Ohio, is part of Reuning’s Public Opinion Lab. Dooley watched the results of Miami’s poll gain traction on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“It was a little surreal to see something that I worked on and helped craft in tweets with millions of views and referenced in different news articles,” said Dooley, a double major in Political Science and Data Analytics.
“This is the career I intend to go into, so I came in with some background knowledge. It was most surprising how complicated it could be to craft survey questions that are effective. There is a lot more than one would initially think to create a question that is fair, doesn’t create bias, and that everyone can understand.”
While the students’ survey results may be in, their work is not yet done. Data needs to be analyzed and compared to election results.
“It’s not magic,” Reuning said of survey results. “I want them to be critical consumers of how polls are used. By doing this and seeing the reaction, it will help them understand the data better. It’s a pretty close electorate, and there are some interesting things for them to look at.”
Prior to sending the survey, Reuning’s students learned about the history of polling, different models and methods, and how to contact people, while students in Schneider’s U.S. Campaigns and Elections class learned theories of why people vote the way they do.
The classes combined to create the questions, eventually voting on their favorites to add to the survey, which was supported by Miami’s Menard Family Center for Democracy and the Center for Career Exploration and Success.
“Our job is to think of ways to engage our students and find projects where they can take what they’re learning in the classroom and apply it to the real world,” Schneider said. “This was one such opportunity, and our students did a really great job.”
