Social connection describes the structure, function, and quality of people's relationships. Its absence, often measured as social isolation or experienced as loneliness, carries consequences for physical health, mental health, and mortality. Public and policy interest has grown quickly, and so has demand for evidence that can guide programs and investment.
NORC researchers have shaped how the field defines and measures social isolation and loneliness, and we lead studies that follow social relationships and health together over decades. We help federal agencies, foundations, health systems, and community organizations decide what to measure, collect high-quality data, and evaluate whether their programs work.
Get in Touch
Tags
Our Approach
We bring conceptual clarity, trusted measures, and practical evidence to a growing public health challenge.
Decades of Research Informing Practice
We have studied social connection for decades, and we help programs put that knowledge to use.
- Measure Development & Validation. Items and scales for national surveys, program intake, and clinical settings, including new constructs such as community connectability.
- Ecological Momentary Assessment. In-the-moment reporting that captures experience as it happens rather than as it is remembered.
- Social Network Analysis. Mapping the structure of people's relationships, including core discussion networks and how they shift as communication moves online.
- Social Media Data Donation. Consent-based collection of participants’ own platform data, revealing interaction patterns surveys cannot observe directly.
- Probability-Based Sampling. Address-based sampling and our AmeriSpeak® panel supply nationally representative estimates.
- Small Area Estimation & Geospatial Analysis. Reliable estimates for counties, neighborhoods, and other small geographies, illuminating where need is concentrated.
How We Work
Proven methods and partnerships keep collection safe, consistent, and affordable at scale.
Dr. Louise Hawkley and her colleagues established much of how these experiences are defined, distinguished, and measured, and that work remains the foundation the field builds on today.
Through The Bridge, NORC’s applied research department, we bring that foundation to the agencies, funders, and community organizations delivering services on the ground. We evaluate federal, state, local, and philanthropic efforts to reduce isolation and loneliness among older adults, caregivers, rural residents, and other populations, examining whether programs reach the people they intend to reach, whether they change the outcomes they claim to change, and what makes a model work in one community but not another.
Our Projects
Our portfolio spans national longitudinal studies, place-based data collection, and evaluations of programs designed to strengthen connection.
Foundational Data & Measurement
We lead studies that track social relationships and health together, at both ends of the time scale, and we build the measures that make those relationships observable.
:desktopSmallHorizontal)
Programs, Places & Practice
We evaluate what organizations are already doing to reduce isolation, and we map where the need is greatest.
Who We Work With
Our partners span federal policy, philanthropy, health care, and community services.
Federal Agencies
State & Local Government
Foundations & Philanthropy
Community-Based Organizations
Health Systems & Health Plans
Aging Services Networks
Academic Researchers
Advocacy Organizations
Our Experts
Our social connection work draws on researchers in survey methodology, gerontology, public health, and network science.
-
Nell Compernolle
Senior Research Scientist -
Michelle Johns
Senior Research Scientist -
Louise Hawkley
Senior Fellow -
James Iveniuk
Senior Research Scientist -
Laura Finch
Senior Research Scientist -
Alycia Bayne
Associate Director
