Category: UW Experts in the News

Quoted: Political scientist John Coleman at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

An old publisher once said, “When the legend is better than the story, print the legend.” Is that where we are heading in our political beliefs, especially when it comes to the political leaders in America? Possibly, according to a new study from UW-Madison…..”The fact misperceptions about Obama’s religious beliefs are higher among less-informed liberals than more knowledgeable liberals poses a problem for the president,” said Dominique Brossard, professor of life sciences communication and an expert in media, science and policy.

Noted: Facebook says Instagram will remain a standalone app separate from the social networking site, but the acquisition could make it easier for marketers, advertisers and the apps and companies one ?likes? to access that kind of photo information, says Deborah Mitchell, executive director for the Center of Brand and Product Management at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: Despite talk of a global market in education, Kris Olds, who teaches geography at the University of Wisconsin, said that ?in the public sector everywhere nowadays, people realize the likelihood of getting salary increases is pretty low. So they try to ?bargain in? as high as they can.?

Noted: Among teenagers, even at-risk children who volunteer reap big benefits, according to research findings studied by Jane Allyn Piliavin, a retired University of Wisconsin sociologist. She cites a positive effect on grades, self-concept, and attitudes toward education. Volunteering also led to reduced drug use and huge declines in dropout rates and teen pregnancies.

A. So long as the non-response is unrelated to the subject of the poll, accuracy will not be affected, says Charles Franklin, a professor of political science at UW-Madison. “As long as the willingness to answer is not correlated with partisanship, or anything else you might be polling about, then it does not affect the validity.”

Quoted: “Once this (occupying) becomes a ritual, it?s harder and harder to provoke the non-participants to care,” said John Sharpless, a University of Wisconsin-Madison history professor.

Quoted: Pat Hoffman, dairy scientist and heifer management specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: Professor Charles Franklin of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: Charles Franklin, who leads the Marquette polling team.

Quoted: Charles Franklin, a political scientist who runs the Marquette Law School Poll.

Quoted: University of Wisconsin-Madison consumer science professor Cynthia Jasper.

Quoted: John Sharpless, a University of Wisconsin-Madison history professor.

Quoted: Charles Franklin, a visiting professor of law at Marquette University

University of Wisconsin-Madison officials have decided to open all meetings of the Human Resources Design Project after an organization that advocates for the rights of faculty and academic staff mailed a complaint last week to J.B. Van Hollen, Wisconsin?s attorney general.

UW-Madison officials have decided to open human resources meetings to the public after a group of faculty and staff complained that new work rules for the university?s 17,000 employees were being discussed in private.

Quoted: Bruce Jones, an agricultural economist at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: Dietram Scheufele, a specialist in science communication at the University of Wisconsin-Madison,

Quoted: Charles Franklin, a UW-Madison professor who does polling at Marquette University.

Noted: The round-table model, which is already operating for some commodities, is similar. Although it is too early to see land-use changes in satellite data, the round tables do seem to be affecting the way many companies do business, says Holly Gibbs, an environmental geographer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. ?I don?t know that it?s a sea change yet,? Gibbs says, ?but they are definitely changing the rules and the norms and the way these industries operate.?

Quoted: Miscarriage can lead to depression that can last from a few months to several years, experts say. And women tend to feel they are being observed in their grief, even if a miscarriage is not announced online, says Julianne Zweifel, a clinical psychologist in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at the University of Wisconsin.

Quoted: Even without the racial aspect, hoodies have an image problem, thanks to their association with criminal activity, said Cynthia Jasper, professor of consumer science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Noted: Insects also are coming out four to five weeks ahead of schedule, said Phil Pelletteri, a University of Wisconsin-Madison entomologist. Not included among those early emergers, however, are mosquitoes, he added, which need spring rains to breed and hatch.

Republicans are fighting for money, time and volunteers as both Wisconsin recall and presidential primary elections approach.

Noted: During the 2011 holiday shopping season, 19% of consumers used their phone to compare products or prices in store, up from 15% in 2010 and 3% in 2009, according to customer service research firm ForeSee. “It?s such a great development for consumers,” says Deborah Mitchell, executive director for the Center of Brand and Product Management at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Quoted: Cheating is one of only a few plausible explanations for such dramatic changes in scores for so many students within a district, said James Wollack, a University of Wisconsin-Madison expert in testing and cheating who reviewed the newspaper?s analysis.

Quoted: ?The FHA clearly didn?t allocate enough capital to the loans it insured from 2007 to 2010,? said Morris A. Davis, a professor of real estate and urban land economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison?s School of Business.

Quoted: Mark Browne, a professor of risk management and insurance at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.