Conference: Thought Summit on the Future of Survey Science

Surveys provide fundamental data about the social and economic conditions of communities around the world. In the U.S., the National Science Foundation funds a number of important social science surveys that produce data relevant to nearly every aspect of American life. The goal of this conference is to bring together principal investigators from several of these surveys and other global experts in survey methodology for a first-of-its-kind meeting to discuss potential synergies across surveys, developments in survey methods including artificial intelligence applications, and best practices for enhancing the efficiency and impact of surveys on society. The conference will benefit the science of survey research by identifying state-of-the-art knowledge, including common challenges and opportunities, and by incorporating relevant advancements in artificial intelligence technology. The conference will benefit society by focusing on ways that surveys can better represent the views of diverse segments of the public, by inviting a diverse group of early career scientists to participate in the meeting, and by making key insights and conclusions publicly available through the conference website. Surveys have long been a prominent method for measuring social and economic conditions globally. In the U.S., the National Science Foundation funds a number of important social science surveys. Yet, changing social conditions and advancements in technologies present new opportunities and challenges for surveys and the methodologies they rely on. This conference will bring together principal investigators of several NSF-funded survey projects, early career scholars, and other global experts focused on survey research and methods, including large language models (LLMs) and AI, for a Thought Summit on the Future of Survey Science scheduled to take place in September 2024. Primary conference goals include developing synergies among NSF-funded surveys, increasing their societal impacts, and informing the future of survey research. Specific aims include: 1.) Strengthening collaboration across NSF projects 2.) Sharing best practices 3.) Identifying challenges, opportunities, and solutions in the survey research and AI space. With respect to intellectual merit, this conference will advance the state-of-the-art knowledge of survey methods and best practices, identify synergies between survey research and large language model (LLM) and AI research focused on modeling public beliefs, attitudes, and opinions, and generate new lines of inquiry at the intersection of survey methods and AI research, the outcome of which could alter the future of survey research. With respect to broader impacts, NSF-funded surveys enhance understanding about social, political, and economic conditions affecting diverse segments of the public, while attempting to represent the unique viewpoints of different groups as accurately as possible. This conference will support these broader impacts by helping to ensure that existing NSF-funded surveys are achieving their goals of capturing all voices and conducting representative surveys. In addition, the meeting will recruit a diverse group of junior scholars to ensure their perspectives are incorporated and to help create a more diverse and inclusive scientific community. Finally, to maximize the broader social impact of the meeting, key findings, conclusions, and recommendations from the meeting will be made public through the conference website. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.