Title: Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Email: jwitte@gmu.edu
Phone: 703-993-2993
Website: https://iir.gmu.edu/
Groups: Faculty
Research Focus
My ongoing research includes the analysis of Twitter data on immigration and the Digital Archive Project in partnership with the American Sociological Association. The latter is funded by the National Science Foundation and entails the digitization of twenty years of manuscripts and reviews from the American Sociological Review and the organization of document metadata into a research archive for the analysis of the production of sociological knowledge. Designed and implemented a survey of immigrant professionals in six American cities. Results from this study were published in a widely disseminated report, Steps to Success: Integrating Immigrant Professionals in the United States. Data from this survey of immigrant professionals formed the basis for a federally funded project from the Corporation for National and Community Service.
Current Projects
■ The Parallel Pandemic Project: The United States and Pakistan are two very different countries facing a common, invisible existential threat. Social scientists have the opportunity to assess the strengths and weaknesses of this framework and think about therapies for the nations going forward.
■ ASA-Mason Digital Archive: In partnership with the American Sociological Association. The latter is funded by the National Science Foundation and entails the digitization of twenty years of manuscripts and reviews from the American Sociological Review and the organization of document metadata into a research archive for the analysis of the production of sociological knowledge.
■ Institute for Immigration Research (IIR): The IIR’s mission is to inform and refocus the immigration conversation among academics, policymakers, and the public by producing and disseminating valid, reliable, and objective multidisciplinary academic research related to immigrants and immigration to the United States.
Select Publications
■ Leshem, O. A., I. Nooraddini, and J. C. Witte. (2020). Surveying Societies Mired in Conflict: Evidence of Social Desirability Bias in Palestine. International Journal of Public Opinion Research 32(1), 132-142.
■ Witte, J. C., R Spalter-Roth, and Y. Furuya. (2018). Section membership and participation in the American Sociological Review publication process. I Networks, Hacking and the Media—CITAMS@30 Now, Then and Tomorrow, Special Edition of Studies in Media and Communication 17, 25-40.
■ Mavletova, A. and J. C. Witte (2017). Is the willingness to take risks contagious? A comparison of immigrants and native-born in the United States. Journal of Risk Research 20(7), 827-845.