Social Science

Voter indifference in the United States is often laid at the feet of the media—negative ads, sensationalism, entertainment crowding out news. Media matters, but it is rarely the whole story. To see why turnout sags, put the choice to vote in a personal frame: what does a person think

Statistics help only when we can (a) identify the phenomenon of interest, (b) measure it on a sensible scale, and (c) interpret and communicate the result clearly. When any link breaks—ambiguous concepts, shaky proxies, or sloppy presentation—numbers create more heat than light. Many institutions now publish annual rankings