We Won an Expy Research Award!

We’re thrilled to share that our 2022 Field Experiment & Tracking Survey won an Expy research award!

The Analyst Institute bestows its prestigious Expy awards upon members who demonstrate excellence in research and collaborative learning. We took home the “Waves on Waves on Waves” award with Grow Progress! This award celebrates the success of our 7-month, 11-wave Field Experiment & Tracking Survey testing the effectiveness of persuasion programming on moving white women toward progress. The Analyst Institute called our impact “unprecedented,” praised our “robustly tailored digital content” and commitment to best practices, and noted that our digital program is one to study!

From May to November 2022, we ran a randomized controlled trial to test the effectiveness of programming on moving white women toward progress. As we shared when the results first rolled in, this programming resulted in an: 

• 8.3 percentage point increase in vote choice for Democratic Senate candidates;
• 8.6pp decrease in women blaming the Biden Administration or Democrats for inflation; 
• 5.0pp increase in agreement that public officials should take action to ensure all women have the freedom to make their own decisions about abortion.

Respondents included 2,000 white women registered voters in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Ohio. A majority (76%) live in a household with at least one child. Nearly half (48%) of respondents hold a high school diploma as their highest level of education. Thirty eight percent have a household income of $50,000 or less, and 39% have a household income between $50,001 and $100,000. Respondents were recruited based on voter file matches to ensure representativeness of Galvanize Action’s audience. 

Women who completed a baseline survey were randomly assigned to one of two groups: a treatment group (50%) and a control group (50%). Women in both groups completed the 11 waves of surveys, but only women in the treatment group received the persuasion programming from Galvanize Action and the One For All Committee. Random assignment provides clear, causal evidence of the effect of treatment delivered. This research design is considered the gold standard for evaluation by the Analyst Institute and academic researchers.

Rather than testing a single piece of creative, we tested a persuasion approach: sustained programming over six months; rigorously tested messages and ads tailored to connect with women on their core values; and a hopeful, solutions-based narrative to address the multiple issues they care most about. Messages were deployed May through November across digital platforms: pre-roll, social media, and over-the-top ads and addressed reproductive freedom, the economy, healthcare, culture war issues, and democracy, as well as ads from the One For All Committee in support of candidates leading up to the midterms.

Examples of Galvanize Action programming run to the treatment group include:

We’re thrilled with the recognition of our rigorous approach to research and the extraordinary outcome—significantly higher than the average persuasion impact—it demonstrated.