Life[edit]
Hazel Gaudet was born on October 15, 1908.[1] She studied psychology at George Washington University and was a pioneer in audience and opinion research.[2] She was part of the Princeton Radio Project at the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. In 1940 she got married and moved to Reno, Nevada, turning her back on research to devote herself to political and social work. Between 1961 and 1975 she wrote the column The Polls, which appeared regularly in the Public Opinion Quarterly. On July 10, 1975, Gaudet-Erskine died as a result of a serious illness.[3][4]
Scientific career[edit]
Hazel Gaudet was an early member of the Princeton Radio Project at Princeton University, before moving to Columbia University to work at the Bureau of Applied Social Research. There, the social and communication scientist was mainly responsible for administration and data analysis. She also recruited and trained young interviewers and conducted some interviews herself.[2] As a member of the Princeton Radio Project, she was also instrumental in co-authoring The Office of Radio's first two studies: The Invasion from Mars (1940) and The People's Choice (1944).
Following this work, she worked as an analyst in the Surveying Division of the Office of War Information (OWI) in New York and London, where she led some research into the effectiveness of war propaganda.[5]
In addition, she worked in the research department of the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) and assisted Charles Wright Mills in his studies on the role of union leaders, which was published in 1948 under the name The New Man of Power.[3]
Homages[edit]
Since 2015 the American Political Science Association gives the Hazel Gaudet Erskine Political Psychology Career Achievement Award, honoring remarkable people in the field of political psychology.[8]
Between 1961 and 1975 Hazel Erskine Gaudet wrote 'The Polls', a regular column in the Public Opinion Quarterly.