RAPID: A Probability-Based, National-Representative Survey of Americans Before, During, and After the Pandemic

Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences - This project examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on American society through a survey of adults who will have been surveyed before, during, and after the pandemic. The study measures pandemic-related health experiences including knowledge, behaviors, and experiences (e.g. exposure, contagion, testing), the economic impacts of the pandemic containment measures, and the social and psychological changes related to stress, anxiety, and psychological well-being that have occurred. It analyzes the degree to which the social and psychological outcomes are related directly to the pandemic?s health impacts and to the extent which these are affected through the pandemic?s disruption of the economy. Then, in turn it studies how the levels of stress as well as social and psychological well-being affect health-related behaviors and health outcomes. This knowledge helps inform, and possibly improves, efforts to mitigate the disruptions of the current pandemic and leads to the development of better programs and responses to future pandemics.

These research goals are achieved through a longitudinal and comparative design incorporating baseline measurements from both NORC studies during earlier periods of national turmoil and disruption and from recent, more normal times based on NORC?s General Social Survey. Using NORC?s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel®, a nationally representative sample of 2,000 adults are interviewed immediately and then re-interviewed twice in following months. The comparative analysis also determines how experiences and outcomes vary across areas in the United States and how experiences in the US compare to those in other countries.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.