American Democracy Programs

SCAD's Graduate Fellowship Program offers grants to graduate students from the social sciences and professional schools who are studying questions related to American democracy, specifically those using experimental survey research methods. Grantees join the Center as graduate fellows, and in addition to receiving financial support, they are brought into a community of researchers providing feedback on research, methods workshops, and support in coordinating joint-access to omnibus surveys.

The application cycle for the 2022 Fellowship year is now closed.

The Laboratory for the Study of American Values (Survey Lab) supports graduate students who are writing dissertations about American public opinion by helping them conduct original surveys of nationally representative samples of adults. The lab’s goal is to enhance the research productivity and career success of graduate students and yield rich new insights about American values.

Learn more and apply

Why do Americans vote as they do on Election Day? The Center for American Democracy runs the online component of American National Election Studies (ANES), a nationwide survey of the American electorate which collects high-quality data on voting, public opinion, and political participation to serve the research needs of social scientists, teachers, students, policy makers and journalists. IRiSS administers a quadrennial grant from the National Science Foundation to run the ANES.

Overview of the ANES