Since 2005, Professor Schieman has collected data from more than 40,000 workers in the United States and Canada. He uses diverse methodologies–including surveys, focus groups, interviews, and free-text designs–to understand what people think and feel about work–and its effects on the self, status, and well-being. His research has been supported by $5.1 million in grant awards from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Social Science and Humanities Research Council, the National Institute on Aging, the University of Toronto COVID-19 Action Initiative, and the Ontario Mental Health Foundation. He has published more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals including American Sociological Review, Social Forces, Work & Occupations, Journal of Marriage and Family, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Social Psychology Quarterly, Social Problems, Work & Stress, and others.

Studying the Quality of Work and Economic Life

Measuring Employment Sentiments and Social Inequality (MESSI)

From October 26 to November 27 of 2023, Professor Schieman partnered with YouGov to survey 5,000 American workers, representing one of the largest nationally representative surveys of workers’ attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs–not only about their own personal job conditions and qualities, but their perceptions of their fellow American workers’ job conditions and qualities. The MESSI contains novel measures of what Professor Schieman calls “perception glitches” as well as a range of job values, self-concepts, mental health, and well-being.

Quality of Employment Survey-Updated (QES-UP)

In February/March of 2022 and 2023, Professor Schieman partnered with Angus Reid Global to survey two nationally representative samples of American workers in the United States (5,000 in total). One objective is to provide a 50-year history from 1970 to the present of trends in the quality of worklife and how it shapes the sense of self and identity, status, and well-being. His research revisits some of the classic questions from the 1972/1973 and 1977 Quality of Employment Surveys as well as the Quality of Worklife Module of the General Social Survey.

American Quality of Work & Economic Life Study (A-QWELS)

This study collected data on more than 6,500 American workers in 2020 and 2021. One objective is to investigate how Americans perceive work and economic conditions. Professor Schieman traces how these factors shape perceptions of inequality, satisfaction, and health, and how the role of work in our lives has changed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Canadian Quality of Work & Economic Life Study (C-QWELS)

This ongoing study has collected data on more than 18,500 Canadian workers in 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. One objective is to investigate how Canadians perceive work and economic conditions, and how these factors are linked to status, satisfaction, and health. With 15 waves of data collection that started in September 2019 and repeated follow-ups throughout and now post-pandemic, the C-QWELS provides an in-depth history into the experiences of Canadians during the social and economic changes associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and the public health response.

Work, Stress and Health Study (WSH)

In 2005, Professor Schieman collected data from a nationally representative sample of 1,800 working American adults and followed up two years later on the eve of the Great Recession. One objective is to document the effects of work-related stress, with an emphasis on interpersonal conflict in the workplace and anger.

The Canadian Work Stress and Health Study (CAN-WSH)

In 2011, Professor Schieman fielded a national survey of 6,000 working Canadians and followed up every two years until 2019. One objective is to track changes in demands and resources that workers experience in their roles, with an emphasis on the work-family interface, after-hours contact, multitasking, and work-life culture.