The APP Turns 5!

In 2017 we had an idea — why not create our own panel of people willing to answer research surveys and help researchers answer important questions? 5 years later and over 45,000 of you have helped to make that dream a reality. You have answered hundreds of our questions, you have participated in multiple projects, you have helped undergraduates, graduate students and faculty members throughout the USA with their research, and without YOU none of this would have been possible!

You have completed surveys on your COVID experiences, you have shared your political views and opinions about land-grant universities, you have told us about your smoking and vaping experiences and whether or not you have tattoos, you have shared your family histories, languages spoken in your homes and the kinds of sporting activities that your children have taken part in.

Research studies that you have contributed to have been published in academic journals, presented at conferences, been talked about in newspapers and on radio and TV, and even been turned into a book! WooHoo! Happy 5th Birthday to the American Population Panel and a HUGE THANK YOU to all APP members! Can't wait to see where the next 5 years takes us!!

—Elizabeth Cooksey, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus of Sociology and
Senior Researcher, CHRR at The Ohio State University

The APP has been a godsend to my scholarship on higher education issues. The 2020 Johns Hopkins University Press book I co-authored with WVU President Gordon Gee utilized two separate APP surveys to gauge public sentiment regarding the relative contributions that universities make to the health and well-being of American society. Plans already are underway to use the APP once again for our new project that focuses attention on the public's opinion of how universities govern themselves.

—Stephen M. Gavazzi, Ph.D.
Professor of Human Development and Family Science and
Director, CHRR at The Ohio State University

• The APP launched on June 1, 2017.
• Current number of panelists is 45,776 (as of 5/31/22).
• Diversity within the APP? You bet! Our Panel demographics cover a range of ages, regions of the U.S., racial/ethnicity identities, and levels of education.
• APP members range in age from 18 to 90+ years.
• Longest active panel member is currently a woman in her 50s from Ohio.
• The panelist that lives the farthest from our HQ is 4,000+ miles away in Hawaii. Panel members participate from all 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
• Of the panelists who have answered our Veteran Service question, 18 percent have served in the U.S. Armed Forces. If you are a panel member and would like to participate in our Military Service Survey, please contact us for additional information.
• Completed projects by year:
  • 2018 = 2
  • 2019 = 16
  • 2020 = 18
  • 2021 = 12
  • 2022 = 4
• To date, our panelists have completed 57,369 individual surveys as part of the 50+ projects we've been a part of in our first five years.
• To date, the YOU and COVID-19 survey (third in our COVID-19 series) was the most popular Mini Survey we've fielded so far with 9,389 participants answering the survey.
• Panelists who participated in a recent Esports survey agreed that for an activity to be considered an Esport or a Sport, it needs to "have official rules, regulations, leagues, etc." (87% Esports, 88% Sports) and also "be competitive" (87% Esports, 85% Sports).