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NORC at the University Chicago
We navigate the complex social data landscape to derive actionable insights for personal and societal well-being.

NORC's Social Data Collaboratory (SDC) explores the intersection of social media, human behavior, and digital communication. Employing advanced techniques from applied statistics and computational linguistics, we navigate the evolving complexity of social data to provide actionable insights into public opinion and personal behavior. Our clients use those insights to make strategic planning, program, and policy decisions. 

Our team includes experts in public health, health communications, public policy, political science, economics, biostatistics, and data and computer science. In particular, we have extensive experience studying how health information is searched for, engaged with, and shared across traditional and emerging media platforms. Our rigorous data collection methods involve direct extraction from popular social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, YouTube, and TikTok and capture richer content than standard social listening tools. This combination of subject matter and methodological expertise offers our clients a deeper understanding of the topics that interest them. 

Our Experts

Our Projects

Smoke-Free Screens Initiative

Updating surveillance of on-screen tobacco imagery after pandemic-driven changes in video viewing

Client:

Truth Initiative

Using Innovative Machine Learning to Detect Support and Opposition to E-Cigarette Use Prevention Messaging on Twitter and TikTok

First study to examine the content, sources, and patterns of diffusion of E-cigarette prevention campaigns

Client:

National Cancer Institute

Social Media’s Influence on Flavored Tobacco Use

Investigation of youth-targeted flavored tobacco promotion on social media to inform regulatory decisions

Client:

National Institute on Drug Abuse; Food & Drug Administration
Social Data Collaboratory Projects