New report details the 2024 Election Rumor Research Project and shows how our model can support a more informed public, create a stronger academy and train the next generation of scholars.
Researchers at the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public have published a new report that documents the work of the CIP’s 2024 Election Rumor Research Project (ERRP), which pursued a kind of research that often runs counter to traditional academic norms and incentives: it moves fast, responds to urgent public information needs in real time, spans and integrates multiple disciplines and prioritizes public impact over publication in peer-reviewed journals. This work produces research at speed while still using peer-reviewed methodologies, providing valuable educational experiences for students and research when it is needed most.
“Being Sensemakers: A Framework for University-Based Rapid Research of Elections, Crisis Events, and Beyond” offers both strategic and tactical insights, documenting the project team’s human and technological set-up; a step-by-step account of how rumor analysis outputs moved from online discovery to analysis to publication, including tools and workflows; reflections from external stakeholders; insights for academia, particularly about how this research approach can benefit the public and provides a valuable training environment for students and the next generation of scholars; and recommendations for administrators, funders, and academic researchers interested in standing up similar rapid research projects.
Building on two previous election cycle efforts, in 2024 the CIP’s ERRP team conducted rapid research to surface, analyze and help resolve rumors about election integrity. The team operated within a research center designed to support scholarship in the public interest, providing essential infrastructure, staff, funding and coordination across efforts.
Although academic incentives are often misaligned with this kind of work, there is value in the academy engaging in real-time research and publication during unfolding news events and other times of uncertainty, such as elections. In doing so, they can contribute to both civic and psychological resilience. Time-sensitive work also fosters strong relationships among students, faculty, journalists, election officials and the public — relationships as valuable as the datasets and outputs produced in the course of research. By providing timely insight, the report demonstrates how such work can build trust in the academy and underscore its civic function.
“By analyzing the dynamics of rumoring in addition to the content of rumors, and offering that knowledge publicly, we helped audiences see events from a broader vantage point that could help resolve uncertainty and, consequently, ease anxiety,” the CIP co-authors wrote in the report. “In doing so, we acted as sensemakers ourselves, offering insights that stabilize rapidly unfolding stories, utilizing our rapid research knowledge as an empirical underpinning. Framing the behavior and tactics — not just the claims — in a relatable way that acknowledges our natural tendency as humans to engage with rumors has the potential to build trust by recognizing rumoring as an ordinary, even empathetic, human response to uncertainty.”
The report was co-authored by CIP research manager Danielle Lee Tomson, CIP co-founder Kate Starbird, CIP postdoctoral scholar Mert Can Bayar, CIP assistant director for communications Michael Grass and CIP co-founder Emma Spiro.
“Being Sensemakers: A Framework for University-Based Rapid Research of Elections, Crisis Events, and Beyond”
- Read a digital version of the report on UW Pressbooks.
- Download a digital .pdf version of the report.
Citation
Tomson, D. L., Starbird, K., Bayar, M. C., Grass, M., & Spiro, E. (2025). Being Sensemakers: A Framework for University-Based Rapid Research of Elections, Crisis Events, and Beyond. University of Washington. doi.org/10.6069/3397-0E51
Read more about the CIP’s Election Rumor Research Project
- Science (October 31, 2024): “The rumor clinic: As U.S. election looms, this ‘rumor researcher’ tracks—and combats—falsehoods in real time”
- The New York Times (November 1, 2024): “Disinformation watchdogs are under pressure. This group refuses to stop.”
Image at top: Photo by Kevin Standlee / Flickr via CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
