• Book-Byline
  • Book-MakingShiftHappen
  • Book-TheEngagement
  • Book-AdvocatingForTheEnvironment
  • Book-EnginesOfLiberty
  • Book-WinningMarriage
  • Book-LoudAndClear

Books that Mention GSSR or Cite Our Research:

  • Byline: How Local Journalists Can Improve the Global News Industry and Change the World by Cristi Hegranes with Seth Libby (2023)
  • Making Shift Happen: Designing for Successful Environmental Behavior Change by Nya Van Leuvan, Lauren Highleyman, et al. (2022)
  • The Engagement: America’s Quarter-Century Struggle Over Same-Sex Marriage by Sasha Issenberg (2021)
  • Advocating for the Environment: How to Gather Your Power and Take Action by Susan Inches (2021)
  • Engines of Liberty: The Power of Citizen Activists to Make Constitutional Law by David Cole (2016)
  • Winning Marriage: The Inside Story of How Same-Sex Couples Took on the Politicians and Pundits—and Wonby Marc Solomon (2015)
  • Loud and Clear in an Election Year: Amplifying the Voices of Community Advocates by Holly Minch, Kim Haddow, et al. (2004)

GSSR in Other Publications / On Other Platforms:

  • California Health Care Foundation | Blog Post: Grantee Voices Help CHCF Strengthen Support and Engagement (2025)
    • “The California Health Care Foundation is dedicated to improving the health care system so that all Californians get the care they need. CHCF works toward this goal through deep partnerships with grantees in the field, without which the work of the foundation would not be possible. We value our relationships with partners and see communication and trust as essential to success. With this in mind, CHCF partnered with independent consulting firm Goodwin Simon Strategic Research to elicit frank feedback from grantees through an anonymous survey.”
  • California Health Care Foundation | CalAIM Experiences (2023-2025)
  • GLAAD | Report: 2024 Social Media Safety Index (2024)
    • “The 2024 SMSI Platform Scorecard consists of twelve indicators that draw on best practices and guidelines from the Ranking Digital Rights (RDR) Big Tech Scorecard.[…] The Scorecard was developed in 2022 in close collaboration with Goodwin Simon Strategic Research (GSSR), Ranking Digital Rights (RDR), expert stakeholders working at the intersections of technology and human rights, and input from the SMSI advisory committee.”
  • The Math Narrative Project; Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation | Research: “The Math Narrative Project” (website & research report) (2024)
    • “The Math Narrative Project aims to advance an evidence-based messaging and narrative change strategy to improve math instruction and outcomes for 6th to 10th grade Black and Hispanic^ students of all incomes and Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) and white students from lower-income backgrounds.”
  • Contraception: An International Reproductive Health Journal | Peer-Reviewed Research: “Doctors’ Voices Generate Support for Abortion Care: Results from a Nationally Representative Survey” (2024)
    • “When doctors who provide abortion care use messaging recommendations that include speaking about abortion’s complexities and avoiding political-sounding punditry, they generate more support for legal abortion and less for restrictions.”
  • The Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund| Messaging Guidance: “Building Support For College Affordability: Messaging Resources For Advocates” (2024)
    • As part of its work to help more low-income students and students of color attain a college degree, the Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund invested in new messaging research to build support for college access and affordability in California. The Haas, Jr. Fund commissioned Wonder: Strategies for Good and Goodwin-Simon Strategic Research to conduct this research based on input and guidance from a broad group of partner organizations.
  • Medicaid Innovation Collaborative | Presentation: “Research Readout by Medicaid Innovation Collaborative” (2023)
    • “John Whaley from Goodwin Simon Research Partners presents with Karissa Godzik from the Medicaid Innovation Collaborative on the research findings from focus groups, in-depth interviews and a survey that were performed over the past 6 months in New York, Iowa and Kentucky to understand the needs of the Medicaid ecosystem in regards to social determinants of health.”
  • GLAAD | Report: 2023 Social Media Safety Index (2023)
    • “Created in partnership with Goodwin Simon Strategic Research and the tech accountability organization, Ranking Digital Rights, the SMSI Platform Scorecard is an evaluation of LGBTQ safety, privacy, and expression on five major platforms (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Twitter) based on 12 LGBTQ-specific indicators including explicit protections from hate and harassment for LGBTQ users, offering gender pronoun options on profiles, and prohibiting advertising that could be harmful and/or discriminatory to LGBTQ people.”
  • Global Press; Media Impact Funders | Study: “Unlocking U.S. Audience Demand for International News” (2023)
    • “Written by Global Press Chief Operating Officer Laxmi Parthasarathy and Global Press CEO Cristi Hegranes, this study establishes that there is a deep reservoir of untapped demand from readers in the United States—across a wide range of demographics, including noncitizen, diaspora and migrant populations—for higher-quality international journalism. The study’s conclusions were derived from a rigorous methodology, including a nationwide survey of more than 1,200 U.S.-based readers of international news, complemented by in-depth interview and focus group feedback.”
  • Contraception: An International Reproductive Health Journal | Peer-Reviewed Research: “The Voices of Doctors Who Provide Abortion Care Increase Public Support for Legal Abortion by Replacing Flawed Negative Stereotypes with Positive Images of Compassion, Skill and Conscience” (2022)
    • Public support for legal abortion increases when the voices of doctors who provide abortion care are highlighted. This shift occurs because these voices replace negative stereotypes with positive images of compassion, skill, and conscience.
  • Piper Fund; Proteus Fund | Messaging Guide: “Justice Not Politics: Effective Messaging to Protect State Courts“ (2022)
    • “Our goal in conducting this research was to better understand the importance of judicial independence among our audience, as well as their attitudes and beliefs related to holding courts accountable and reimagining justice in general. Equipped with this more in-depth understanding of how our audience thinks through these issues, we then sought to develop, test, and refine effective messaging and messenger strategies to build support for advocacy efforts, including reforms, that strengthen the independence of state courts.”
  • GLAAD | Report: 2022 Social Media Safety Index (2022)
    • “The 2022 SMSI introduces a Platform Scorecard developed by GLAAD in partnership with Ranking Digital Rights and Goodwin Simon Strategic Research. The Platform Scorecard utilizes twelve LGBTQ-specific indicators to generate numeric ratings with regard to LGBTQ safety, privacy, and expression.”
  • NARAL Pro-Choice America | “Getting the Edge: Proactive Abortion Messaging to Seize the Debate” (messaging guide; memo) (2021)
    • “This messaging guide is intended for advocates, activists, and allies looking to use proactive messaging to seize the debate around abortion care. It is designed—in particular—for reproductive health, rights, and justice advocates; elected officials and policymakers; and grassroots activists and communicators working to ensure that legal access to abortion care is not only protected, but expanded.”
  • California Health Care Foundation | Surveys: “COVID-19 Tracking Poll: Views from California Health Care Providers on the Front Lines” (2020-2021)
    • The California Health Care Foundation (CHCF) in conjunction with Goodwin Simon Strategic Research, conducted statewide surveys of California health care providers to explore the impact of COVID-19 on providers’ mental health and morale, views of their patients’ mental and physical health, their experiences with telehealth, and the availability of personal protective equipment, as well as other topics.
  • California Health Care Foundation | Surveys: “California Health Providers’ Attitudes Regarding a COVID-19 Vaccine” (2020-2021)
    • As two vaccines against COVID-19 were moving toward consideration by the US Food and Drug Administration, the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF) in conjunction with Goodwin Simon Strategic Research, conducted statewide surveys of California health care providers regarding attitudes and motivations around a COVID-19 vaccine.
      • March 2021: “This survey is the second wave of a two-part series of research focused on health care providers and the COVID-19 vaccine. The results of this second-wave study are compared to the first wave of the survey, conducted December 2–9, 2020, where applicable.”
      • December 2020: “The survey was conducted December 2–9, 2020, among 1,203 health care providers.”
  • Equitable Futures Initiative; Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation | Research: “Striving to Thriving: Occupational Identity formation among Black and Hispanic young people and young people from households with lower incomes” (2020)
    • “From 2018-2019, Equitable Futures gathered key insights from qualitative and quantitative research with over 4,000 young people on how they see themselves and the opportunities and challenges they anticipate in pursuing their career and life goals.”
  • The Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund| Report: “LGBT Giving Project” (2011-2020)
    • A nine-year project to increase giving by LGBTQ people to LGBTQ nonprofits, yields some valuable–and surprising–findings. The Project’s focus groups were conducted by Goodwin Simon Strategic Research (GSSR) from February through April 2013. GSSR identified different categories of donors, based on their various motivations for giving.
  • The David & Lucile Packard Foundation | Messaging Guide: “A Labor of LOVE: Family, friends and neighbors who care for young children” (2020)
    • “This guide is intended for those who run programs, organize playgroups, offer workshops or provide support for family, friends and neighbors who care for children in informal, home-based settings. As part of this research project, we wanted to know what existing communication and outreach strategies work well and can be replicated and what new strategies are needed to reach prospective program participants—those who watch and care for young children.”
  • Detention Watch Network | Messaging Guide: ”Towards Freedom: A messaging guide for ending immigration detention” (2020)
    • “The goal of this messaging research is to build an expanded base of people who support and will advocate for ending immigrant detention in the U.S. This base of would-be supporters, comprised of both potential early adopters and early majority audiences are core to helping build majority support for reducing and ultimately ending detention and for amplifying the movement’s position and messaging to others.”
  • Heal Safely Campaign (OR) | Opioid Prevention Toolkit: Helping our Communities Heal Safely (2019)
    • “The Opioid Prevention Toolkit provides tools and resources to support the critical work of community health partners and organizations. This Toolkit is intended for those who work in public health prevention to help communities find safe options for healing.”
  • Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco; Coastal Enterprises, Inc.; Maine Climate Table | Community Development Innovation Review: “Building on Shared Values to Engage with Mainers on Climate Change”(2019)
    • “In a politically divided era in Maine, where progress to address climate change had stalled, Coastal Enterprises, Inc. (CEI), a Community Development Financial Institu­tion (CDFI) and community development corporation, sought to create a pathway for action with a mission for expanding good jobs, advancing environmentally sustain­able enterprises, and growing shared prosperity. In collaboration with the Maine Climate Table (MCT), a group of concerned organizations and individuals, and the opinion research firm Goodwin Simon Strategic Research (GSSR), CEI undertook a deep analysis of climate change perceptions in order to meet Mainers where they are on the challenges ahead.”
  •  The David & Lucile Packard Foundation | Messaging Guide: “Heartwired to Love the Ocean” (2019)
    • “Working with a group of conservation advocates and organizations, this project sought to better understand people’s deep connection to the ocean and how to better use communications to tap into that connection. The project explored the lived experiences of people across the nation and their emotional connections to the ocean. The goal: to encourage a wider audience to care about and take action to protect the ocean.”
  • Californians for Consumer Privacy | Memo: “Summary of Key Findings from California Privacy Survey”(2019)
    • This memo highlights key findings from an online survey, conducted on behalf of Californians for Consumer Privacy, on October 9-11, 2019 among 777 registered voters across California.
  • Berkeley Media Studies Group | Messaging Guide: “Where we’re going and where we’ve been: Making the case for preventing sexual violence” (2018)
    • “The Goodwin Simon team conducted focus groups and online surveys to test the strength of various communications approaches to building support for efforts to prevent sexual harassment, abuse, and assault. That research informed the recommendations we make in this guide.”
  • Piper Fund; Proteus Fund | Messaging Guide: “Protecting Our Rights and Our Constitution: Communicating About America’s Courts” (2018)
    • “Created by ReThink Media, based on research commissioned by Piper, this guide includes audience-based messaging strategies, as well as a reference guide on policy solutions and understanding how the opposition talks about the courts.”
  • Auburn Seminary | Messaging Guide: “Being in Relationship: A New Way to Talk with Black and White Theologically Conservative Christians about the Place of Lesbian and Gay People in Our Families, Our Churches and Society.” (2018)
    • “This research has confirmed for us the importance of engaging theologically conservative Christians in an ongoing way on the place of lesbian and gay people in their families, in church and in society. While it is not possible to move most theologically conservative Christians in the near term to full acceptance and celebration of LGBTQ people, it is possible to shift their hearts in important and meaningful ways.”
  • The David & Lucile Packard Foundation | Strategy Guide: “Heartwired: Human Behavior, Strategic Opinion Research and the Audacious Pursuit of Social Change” (2017)
    • “In this guide, we analyze how change-makers have leveraged a heartwired understanding of their audiences to accelerate change on their issue. Then we show you how to apply the heartwired approach to mapping your own social change. With Heartwired, we hope to better equip you to generate deep and lasting change.”
  •  Auburn Seminary | Communications Toolkit: “My Mind Was Changed: A New Way to Talk with Conflicted Christians about Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People in Church and Society” (2016)
    • “In America, there are many Christians who remain conflicted about the place of LGBT people in their churches and in society. They want to embrace fairness and inclusion, yet also worry about what they have been taught, especially in church, about LGBT people. Our research has helped us find a meaningful way to talk with conflicted Christians—a way that helps to open their hearts and minds to the welcome and inclusion of gay and lesbian people. It’s an approach that we share with you in this toolkit.”
  • Robert Wood Johnson Foundation | Research: “Removing Barriers and Creating Opportunities: Making the Case to Help Young Men of Color Succeed” (2015)
    • “Through research that spanned the course of nearly two years, we researched and developed messaging strategies that can raise awareness and support for investing in YMOC. The success of this research, we hope, will help yield more support for solutions that remove barriers and create the opportunities these vulnerable young men need to succeed.”
  • Frank Gathering (website) | Video: “Amy Simon: Brain Porn Communications” (2015)
    • “A partner at Goodwin Simon Strategic Research, Amy Simon brings 20 years of political experience to her work as a pollster and communications strategist. In what might be the most provocative frank talk title in the bunch, Simon made good on her promise to capture ‘everything you need to know about how to conduct innovative research that develops empathetically attuned persuasive communication for social change.’ In other words, she shows us how to close the gap between the public and advocates that often exists in social change communications.”