Understanding America

Welcome to the Understanding America Study

Thank you for answering our survey! As soon as we receive the survey in the postage-paid envelope or process your online survey we will send you a prepaid card loaded with the $15 we promised you for completion of the survey.

If you did not complete our recruitment survey yet, please go here: https://uas.usc.edu/info first.

On this page you can sign up to participate in the Understanding America Study. Your opinions will help us to paint a picture of how people experience their daily lives across the country. We would like to see if and how people’s beliefs and experiences change over time, so that we can inform policy makers about how they can help improve people’s daily lives.

We will ask you questions about many topics, such as current events, retirement, health, and well-being.
If you decide to take part, we will ask you to do about 1 survey a month. Sometimes you will have the option to do more. Most take about 15 minutes; some take up to 30 minutes.
We will pay you $20 for answering each 30-minute survey. Sometimes we might send you a shorter survey. These pay a little less; for example a 15-minute survey would pay $10.
At the beginning of every month, we’ll load your total rewards from the month before onto the prepaid card you’re receiving now! So please don’t throw the card away after use!

Taking part in the study and the surveys is voluntary. This means it is up to you if you want to take part. Even if you agree now, you can change your mind at any time. You can also skip any questions you do not wish to answer. We’ll keep all of your personal information confidential and your survey answers will be anonymous.