Professor Jason Barabas Leads Dartmouth Students in Pioneering Polling Initiative with The Dartmouth Poll

Professor Jason Barabas '93, Director of The Nelson A. Rockefeller Center at Dartmouth College, is spearheading The Dartmouth Poll, an initiative aimed at establishing best practices for polling in New Hampshire.  A new polling organization run at Dartmouth will engage undergraduate students, exemplified by those in Professor Barabas's Fall 2024 course, QSS 30.20: Polling, Public Opinion, and Public Policy. This course, cross-listed in the Program in Quantitative Social Science (QSS), Government, and Public Policy, introduces students to the intricacies of election polling and public opinion research. Professor Barabas writes that, "There are numerous opportunities [in QSS 30.20] for students to improve and showcase their quantitative skills. For example, data visualization will be important and several of the students learned those techniques in QSS classes." Professor Barabas added, "Likewise, students will use statistical models to explore variations in support for candidates as well as aspects of the experimental research design.". QSS 30.20 offers students the opportunity to build on their interests by, for example, focusing on polling analytics or or broader polling strategies.  Others students in the course might prefer to focus on communications or compliance, both of which are important areas in polling.

According to Professor Barabas, "[The Dartmouth Poll] is an incredible hands-on, data intensive project that has 21st-Century technology while adhering to well-established polling standards."  For more details, check out the article in Vox on The Dartmouth Poll.

In Winter 2024, Professor Barabas offered QSS 30.24: Advanced Policy Research (cross-listed in Public Policy and Government), which provided opportunities for students to refine their research skills in the context of real-world policy challenges.