Research
The RDY Lab in the Department of Politics and International Affairs (PIA) strives to seek out research opportunities with partners to work on social, economic, and political issues, public policy, and voter sentiment as well as be a resource to the NAU community for research and publications. Below is a brief overview of the current projects we are working on and the programs we sponsor for our students.
Research Projects
Behavior and Attitude Immigrant National Survey (BAINS) – 2026 Accordion Closed
A collaborative survey with over a dozen academics across the country collecting data on the attitudes of the foreign-born community on a variety of social, economic, and political topics. This survey expands our data collection on foreign-born residents of all statuses by including Asian and Black foreign born respondents.
Latino Immigrant National Attitude Survey (LINAS) – 2025 Accordion Closed
To conduct this analysis, we use the 2025 Latino Immigrant National Attitude Survey (LINAS), funded by a collective of academic scholars on immigration, health, and social policy. The survey sample consists of 1,000 Latino immigrants who were interviewed in the respondents’ preferred language, English or Spanish. The survey was deployed in the field on April 23, 2025 and data collection was completed on May 13, 2025. Data was collected through a blended deployment approach that included web-based and telephone interviews, using numbers for both cellular and landline telephones. The data was then weighted to ensure that the sample matched those defined by the U.S. Census. The survey asked questions related to the impact of the recent deportation policy changes, perceptions of discrimination, identity, health, as well as demographic measures.
Authoritarian Attitudes and Policy Preferences – 2025 Accordion Closed
We are collaborating with researchers at UCLA on exploring the connection between authoritarian views and policy stances and candidate preference. This survey experiment explores the extent to which attitudes in the 2024 election were driven by economic hardship or ideological conservatism, and to what extent were there deeper political attitudes of in-group preservation and out-group exclusion at play.
CMPS Post-Election Survey – 2024 Accordion Closed
We participated in the latest round of the CMPS Survey series, which has been fielded after each presidential election since 2008. The Collaborative Multi-racial Post-election Survey (CMPS) Series includes over 200 scholars across nearly 100 different colleges/universities. The goal of the project is to build upon the 2016 and 2020 CMPS which was the first cooperative, 100% user content driven, multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, post-election online survey in Race, Ethnicity and Politics (REP) in the United States. The survey’s main focus is on attitudes about the 2024 Election and candidates, experiences with racism, policy attitudes, immigration, and personal experiences with civic engagement across many facets of American life.
Survey of Native American Likely Voters in Arizona – 2024 Accordion Closed
Survey results of a pre-election poll of Native American likely voters in Arizona were released on Friday, October 25th. This research is funded by the Dr. Richard Young Endowment and the non-partisan political action committee, Citizens for a New Arizona. This marks one of the only known pre-election surveys of the Native American community in this election cycle.
Arizona Pre-Election Poll- 2022 Accordion Closed
We collaborated with Univision to estimate the attitudes and opinions of registered adults in Arizona going up to the 2022 midterm elections.
The results of our survey made the front page of the Arizona Republic.
Arizona Vote Security and Accessibility Accordion Closed
We are collaborating with researchers across the state to assess new voting laws and evaluate the security and accessibility of our electoral system.
NAU Research Community
If you have a project in mind, click the “Get a Quote” link on the right to see how we might help you with reliable cost estimates you can use for your grant applications and research proposals.
Public Partnerships
State and local agencies can leverage a coherent data-collection program to increase efficiency and reduce costs. Public institutions often require reliable data collection methods for their reporting and funding requirements. The RDY Lab provides expertise to organize and project costs and benefits for your agency.