Howard Schuman

Professor Howard Schuman was a Research Scientist Emeritus and Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Michigan. His research has been in three main areas. One is on the question-answer process in large-scale surveys, where he initiated experiementation showing how answers are shapred by the form, wording, and context of questions. A second area is that of collective memory, with research on how memories of past events and changes at the national level are connected to cohort experience. The third area concerns changes in racial attitudes over the past half century, with emphasis also on the problems involved in measuring such change. Among Professor Schuman’s honors are the Gordon W. Allport Prize in 1970, a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1980-81, and a fellowship at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences in 1985-86. He received a Distinguished Faculty Achievement Award from the University of Michigan in 1989. He was named a fellow of the Society of Personality and Social Psychology in 1991, and in 1993, he was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1994, he received AAPOR’s Award for Exceptionally Distinguished Achievement in the field of public opinion and research, the Paul F. Lazarsfeld Award, American Sociological Association, 1996, the American Association for Public Opinion Research Annual Book Award, 2005, for Racial Attitudes in America: Trends and Interpretations, and the Philip Converse Award for 2005 for Questions and Answers in Attitude Surveys: Experiments on Question Form, Wording, & Context, American Political Science Association.