Measuring everyday life: Talking about research and why it matters

Abstract

Why do people act as they do? How can we improve our health and well-being? What can the past tell us about our future? Research can help us address such questions, but the journey to finding answers can be challenging and full of adventure. Curated from interviews featured on the public radio show, The Measure of Everyday Life, this collection reveals ways that we can ask useful questions. The book also offers insights from behind the scenes of social science research, communication campaigns and interventions, and community engagement projects. A wide range of audiences—including anyone interested in applying academic research to practical projects, new graduate students, and undergraduate students learning about research—should find useful material in the collection.

“Asking questions, good questions asked the right way, is the basis for so much of the work I do. This book is a timely look at why those questions and the research that propels them matter. We are at precisely the moment when there are so many players in our public discourse that need to take lessons from inside these pages.”

Soledad O'Brien, CEO of SO'B Productions, host of Matter of Fact,
and correspondent for HBO and Al Jazeera America

“The Measure of Everyday Life is a wonderful resource that communicates public health topics and issues in a digestible and conversational way. As an adjunct professor, I have used the podcast episodes for homework and in-class exercises with graduate public health students. Not only do I get positive reviews from the students, but the episodes are a catalyst for a thought-provoking discussion among the class. During a time when misinformation is rampant, it is so great to have this resource (both the podcast episodes and this book) to show the breadth and depth of social science research and practice.”

Dr. Rachel Powell, CDC Foundation and Georgia State University

“This book invites you into truly wide-ranging—and highly accessible—conversations about how researchers work, how they sometimes surprise themselves as they dig into a topic, and what their work tells us about a whole host of pressing issues, ranging from artificial intelligence to end of life, to the language we use to talk to our kids about obesity, to the role of ‘back roads’ in rural Black communities in the south. Fascinating and thought-provoking.”

Joanne Kenen, Commonwealth Fund Journalist in Residence, Johns Hopkins University,
and contributing editor for Politico