Methodology.

What we measure

The questions and insights developed for our reports are designed by organizational psychologists at idealis, who understand human behavior at work. The reports offer perspective on the current context and experience of the U.S. workforce, helping to keep on pulse on topics that impact human - and business - performance.

The Context

We exist, lead and work within a broader societal context. To capture this, our reports outline the external environment using three well-established indicesfrom our measurement partner CivicScience. These indices provide insight into key factors shaping the experiences of the U.S. workforce, includingfinancial health, economic concerns, and emotional well-being.

While these indices are traditionally measured through a consumer lens, they offer a valuable perspective on how individuals – who are not onlyconsumers, but also workers and citizens – are navigating today’s societal landscape. This context directly influences their current and future experiences inthe workplace. By establishing a view on the context at large, we can better grasp how external factors impact worker experiences and dynamics in theworkplace.

The Experience

Our reports employ multi-level and nested theories of measurement to identify key drivers shaping the human experience at work. These drivers are tracked across four levels: the individual (human center), the team, the organization, and society. This multi-level approach provides a comprehensive view of the U.S. worker’s experience in the workplace today.

Each driver represents a critical element of human-centered leadership, capturing factors that, when considered together, contribute to improved outcomes for both individuals and organizations. This holistic approach enables deeper insights into how leadership can directly influence both human and business performance.

How we measure

The data collected for this report is powered by CivicScience. Utilizing a proprietary survey approach, CivicScience’s methodology on data sampling, data collection, and data quality have been tested and externally-validated by leading experts in academia, industry, and economics. To learn more about CivicScience methodology, visit https://civicscience.com/methodology.

Data Collection

CivicScience has collected data from over 130 million U.S. respondents, totalling more than 6 billion data points on attitudes, sentiments, and behaviours. Data is gathered daily via a network of web-based polling applications distributed across third-party websites, social media, mobile apps, and a proprietary web portal. Respondent demographics and geographic composition are key factors in selecting these web assets.

Data is collected from respondents through “engagement” questions to encourage participation, “value” questions for commercial use on specific topics, and “profile” questions to ascertain demographic information. A library of approximately 140 profile questions are distributed daily to ensure an even number of responses per question. Topics vary and can range from current events and consumer behaviour to political views and lifestyle traits. Specific workforce-related questions were developed for this report and are distributed daily as part of CivicScience’s data collection methodology.

Demographic questions are asked across eight categories. Respondents are also asked to identify their current work within one of eight industry categories. Each respondent is assigned a unique, anonymous digital alias to build longitudinal profiles, prevent duplicate responses, target specific respondents, and identify their geographic location. Responses are randomized to prevent fraud and ensure distribution accuracy.

Data Sampling

CivicScience’s data reporting interface provides real-time results with tools for Census weighting by age and gender, cross-tabulation, margin of error calculations, time-trend analysis, and data export. Results can also be filtered by geography and time. Data mining algorithms identify groups of respondents who have answered specific combinations of questions, and cross-tabulations are tested using Chi-Squared and Tschuprow’s T to measure correlation strength.

To ensure reliable figures, data collection targets 3,000 responses per question per month for this report. The sample size is robust enough to allow for reliable extrapolation of trends across the broader workforce. Samples are weighted according to Bureau of Labor Statistics workforce demographics, considering factors such as age, gender, income, race, and education. This ensures the sample is representative and findings are generalizable. To ensure large enough sample sizes to achieve reliable cross-tabulation figures, CivicScience recommends a minimum single-question sample of 1,000 respondents for analysis.

CivicScience's large sample sizes require minimal reweighting, allowing for robust trend analysis and predictive modeling with high reliability.

220,000+

Responses in Quarterly Edition