The University of Michigan's Institute for Social Research and Research Center for Group Dynamics:

65 Years of Social Science in the Public Interest

L. Rowell HuesmannDirector, Research Center for Group Dynamics,

Institute for Social Research

Amos Tversky Collegiate Professor of Psychology and Communication Studies

AGGRESSION RESEARCH GROUP

The Institute for Social Research

ISR StructureComprised of five research centers originating over time and each with a

particular social science focus, which are supported by a central administrative center

Survey Research Center (1946)

Research Center for Group Dynamics (1948)

Population Studies Center (founded 1961, merged with ISR 1990)

Center for Political Studies (1970)

Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (founded 1962, unique center 1998)

Center for Institute Services

ISR Personnel

Ph.D. Scientists & Professors 276Faculty with Joint Appointments 160

Permanent Staff 555

Contingent Staff 1,028

Total ISR Personnel 1,859

InterdisciplinarityISR is a Bridge across U-M’s Campus

Over 20 disciplines represented on our research faculty and working on our research teams

Approximately 58% of our research faculty have appointments in academic departments around campus

ISR is critical to the University to attract the best and brightest quantitative social scientists

ISR Researchers Come from More than 20 Disciplines

Ph.D. Career Tracks in ISRResearch Professor Track

– Research Assistant, Associate, and Full ProfessorResearch Scientist Track

– Research Investigator– Assistant, Associate, and Full Research Scientist

Joint Appointments– Above plus ‘Faculty Associate’

Differential SalariesWhat does ‘tenure’ mean on the research

tracks?

ISR Funding

81%

6%

7%6%

Funding Sources

FederalFoundationIndustry & OthersU-M Internal Grants

Cumulative Awards by Fiscal Year with Stimulus Funds

Month

July August September October November December January February March April May June

The Origins of the Institute for Social Research at the

University of Michigan

The Survey Research CenterSRC

SRC Comes to Michigan

1926 Likert graduates from U of M in sociology 1939 – 45 As director of surveys for USDA Likert attracts top social

scientists to work on surveys for the war effort. He is joined by Angus Campbell, Charlie Cannell, Dorwin Cartwright, George Katona, and Leslie Kish.

1946 War ends and entire group moves to U of M where Don Marquis, Robert Angell, and Ted Newcomb are located. The group becomes the Survey Research Center with Likert as the director. They are quickly joined by Bob Kahn, Dan Katz, & others

Angus Campbell & Rensis Likert

Iconic Moment 1 Soon To Be ISR Researchers Help

Defeat Axis and Save the USA

Iconic Moment 2“The Funding Deal”

The U of M Regents established the SRC with the provision that no internal funds would be used to support it.

To compensate for this they agreed that the center could keep whatever indirect costs came with its grants and contracts

However, the center would have to pay rent for its space, its utility costs, and all other expenses on its own.

Finally, the center would not be located administratively within any higher order unit but would report directly to the Provost as did the colleges at Michigan

Iconic Moment 3SRC Defeats Gallup Pollsters

Iconic Moment 4 ISR Helps Defeat Polio

The Research Center for Group Dynamics

RCGD

A successful individual typically sets his next goal somewhat but not too much above his last achievement. In this way he steadily raises his level of aspiration. - Kurt Lewin

BACK TO THE FUTURE

RCGD FOUNDERS

ALVIN ZANDER

RON LIPPETT

LEON FESTINGERDOC CARTWRIGHT

JACK FRENCH

Founding of ISR

JACK FRENCH, LEON FESTINGER,

DOC CARTWRIGHT, & RENSIS LIKERT

ANGUS CAMPBELL,RENSIS LIKERT, & ‘DOC’ CARTWRIGHT

ISR’s FIRST HOME

Feb. 1, 1949 SRC & RCGD merge to form ISR

Administration of ISR

ProvostExec VP Academic Affairs

ISR Director

Center Director s

Research Faculty

VP for Research

Center Exec Comm

ISR Policy Comm

Elector Role

Advisory Role

Flow of Funding for Typical Academic Department

Provost

Dean

Department

Researcher

Grants

Provost Decides Amounts

Dean Decides Amounts

Chair Decides Amounts

Grant Direct Costs

Grant Indirect Costs

HardMoney

???

Flow of Funding for ISR

Provost

ISR Central Admin

Center

Researcher

GrantCenters Decide Amounts

Grant Direct Costs

Grant Indirect Costs

HardMoney

Centers Decide Amounts

Only Special Initiatives

$27/sq ft rent + 7% of ICR

ISR Accumulated Assets 2011

TYPE0

20

40

60

80

100

120

TotalCash on handInvestment FundCapital AssetsReceivables

Mil

lion

s

ISR Centers’ Accumulated Assets 2011

Center0

10

20

30

40

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60

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CPSICPSRPSCRCGDSRC

Mil

lion

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The Survey Research CenterSRC

SRC’sPrograms of Research

SRC’s “Gold Standard” Repeating Surveys

• Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers

• Monitoring the Future

• American National Election Studies

• Panel Study of Income Dynamics

• Health and Retirement Study

• Army STARRS

Surveys of ConsumersMonthly surveys since 1946 gauge how consumers feel the economic environment will change.

Data from the Surveys of Consumers have proved to be accurate indicators of the future course of the national economy. The data are widely used by a broad range of business firms, financial institutions, and federal agencies.

October 2012 Findings

Consumer confidence posted record gain in October, and consumers were more confident about economic prospects in October than any other time during the last five years, according to the latest survey, which have been monitoring consumer attitudes and expectations for more than 60 years.

Monitoring the Future

Surveying 50,000 U.S. teens every year since 1975.

12th graders have been surveyed since 1975, 8th and 10th graders were added in 1991.

Funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse as part of the National Institutes of Health, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

NIDA Funding was recently awarded for the next five years, totaling $35 million.

American National Election Studies

An ANES study represents one or more interviews conducted with a sample of U.S. eligible voters during one or more interview periods, usually coinciding with U.S. elections of the House of Representatives.

Begun in 1948, with support from the Social Science Research Council, as a pilot study of the national electorate.

Funded by the National Science Foundation, The University of Michigan and Stanford University.

Longest running household panel study in the worldbegun in 1968

Examines dynamics of socioeconomic lives of AmericansCurrently collects data on over 22,000 AmericansReplicated in numerous countriesPrimarily funded by NSF and NIH

With additional funding from the Russell Sage FoundationLargest project funded by Economics Program at NSF

Panel Study of Income Dynamics

Transformative scientific impactMore than 3,000 peer-reviewed articles have used the dataUsed by scholars across the country and world

Large-scale longitudinal project that studies the labor force participation and health transitions that individuals undergo toward the end of their work lives and in the years that follow.

Nationally representative of population 50 and older.

Over 150,000 interviews with over 30,000 participants.

In 2006, expanded to add biological measures, richer psychological measures, and DNA. In 2012, the genetic information from 12,500 consenting participants was added to the online genetics database of the NIH.

Begun in 1990 with Congressional authorization to NIA to provide data on aging and retirement.

Now the largest single U-M federally-funded project, which is supported by the National Institute on Aging and the Social Security Administration. Additional funding by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Army Study to Assess Risks and Resilience in Service Members (STARRS)

Army STARRS is the largest study of mental health risk and resilience ever conducted among military personnel.

Five year study that will run through 2014.

Beginning in 2004, the suicide rate among Soldiers began to rise, reaching record levels in 2007.

The Army engaged the National Institute of Mental Health to help address the issue.

Several Component StudiesThe Historical Data Study

The All Army Study

The New Soldier Study

The Soldier Health Outcomes Study

RCGD Although RCGD’s original mission – to study the

dynamics of groups – has undergone a number of transformations over the past fifty years of its existence, the Center remains focused on the advancement of understanding human behavior in a societal context.

The Center is really now a Center for the Study of Social Dynamics.

Programs of research endeavor to explain particular aspects of the complex interdependence between the psychological life of an individual and the social system in which that person exists.

THE GROUP DYNAMICS SEMINAR

One of the major vehicles for interaction in the Center is the Group Dynamics Seminar. This is probably the oldest social science seminar on campus, if not the world. It has been running uninterruptedly since it was founded by Kurt Lewin in the 1920’s in Berlin. It meets every term, usually with a theme such as “Close Interpersonal Relations,” or “Economics and Social Behavior,” or “Stereotyping and Prejudice.” Group Dynamics Seminars are open to the entire University community and provide an opportunity for researchers, scholars, staff, and students to meet and learn about new and ongoing research activities.

UNIVERSITY OF MICHGIGANINSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH

RESEARCH CENTER FOR GROUP DYNAMICS

Center Directors

Dorwin Cartwright 1948-1958

Alvin Zander 1959-1978

Philip Brickman 1979-1982

Robert B. Zajonc 1982-1989

Richard E. Nisbett 1990-1995

James S. Jackson 1996-2004

L. Rowell Huesmann 2005-2012

BACK WHEN WE WERE YOUNG…

Current RCGD Research Programs

• Gender &Achievement Research Program• Aggression Research Program• Analysis of Pathways from Childhood to Adulthood Program• Communications Neuroscience Program• Culture, Mind & the Brain Program• Culture and the Self Program• Evolution and Human Adaptation• Gender and Achievement Research• Media Psychology Program• Program for Research on Black Americans• Program on Teaching, Learning, & Technology

RCGD Website

http://www.rcgd.isr.umich.edu

RCGD INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVES

INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL STUDIES EXCHANGE PROGRAM

Initiated by Robert Zajonc and now directed by Eugene Burnstein, RCGD supports an exchange program with the Institute for Social Studies at Warsaw University in Poland. The program is funded by the U.S. State Department and allows faculty and graduate students in Ann Arbor and Warsaw to collaborate on research as well as teach and study at each other’s institution.

SUMMARYISR and RCGD’s Continuing Goals

Social Science in the Public Interest– Providing valid empirical data– Advancing social-science theory– Championing applications in the public interest

Interdisciplinarity Establishing the Gold Standard for precision in measuring

social phenomena Training the Next Generation of empirical social scientist

around the world Partnering with institutions around the globe to develop

capacity in the social sciences Pioneering data archiving and sharing

Building for the Future

ISR Building Wing 4 – Perspective from the West - Division Street Side