Michael Traugott

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Michael Traugott, PhD, is Professor Emeritus of Communication Studies, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, Research Professor Emeritus, Center for Political Studies and Adjunct Research Professor, Center for Political Studies, Institute for Social Research.

Professor Traugott studies the mass media and their impact on American politics. This includes research on the use of the media by candidates in their campaigns and its impact on voters, as well as the ways that campaigns are covered and the impact of this coverage on candidates. He has a particular interest in the use of surveys and polls and the way news organizations employ them to cover campaigns and elections.

Josh Pasek

Josh Pasek

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Josh Pasek is Associate Professor of Communication Studies and Faculty Associate in the Center for Political Studies at the University of Michigan, and a MIDAS Associate Director.  His substantive research explores how new media and psychological processes each shape political attitudes, public opinion, and political behaviors.  Josh also examines issues in the measurement of public opinion including techniques for incorporating social trace data as a means of tracking attitudes and behaviors.  Current research evaluates whether the use of online social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter might be changing the political information environment, and assesses the conditions under which nonprobability samples, such as those obtained from big data methods or samples of Internet volunteers can lead to conclusions similar to those of traditional probability samples.  His work has been published in Public Opinion Quarterly, Political Communication, Communication Research, and the Journal of Communication among other outlets.  He also maintains two R packages for producing survey weights (anesrake) and analyzing weighted survey data (weights).

Muzammil M. Hussain

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Muzammil M. Hussain is Assistant Professor of Communication and Media, Faculty Associate at the U-M International Institute and the U-M Institute for Social Research, and Faculty Affiliate at the U-M Ford School of Public Policy’s Science, Technology, and Public Policy Program (STPP) and the Michigan Institute for Data Science (MIDAS). Dr. Hussain’s interdisciplinary research is at the intersections of global communication, social analytics, and technology governance. At Michigan, Professor Hussain teaches courses on digital politics, research methods, and global innovation. He has authored numerous research articles, book chapters, and industry reports examining global ICT politics, innovation, and policy, including pieces in The Journal of Democracy, The Journal of International Affairs, The Brookings Institutions’ Issues in Technology and Innovation, The InterMedia Institute’s Development Research Series, International Studies Review, International Journal of Middle East Affairs, The Communication Review, Policy and Internet, and Journalism: Theory, Practice, and Criticism.