FAQ Sign Up Log In
State of K is a platform for answering a question by sharing and summarizing a list of all the studies that examine that question.
Find the state of our knowledge. In plain English.
Featured Questions
View color key details Hide color key details
Insuff. evidence Mixed results No Yes
Do gun buyback programs reduce gun violence?
11 Studies (1994 to 2016)
View color key details Hide color key details
Insuff. evidence Mixed results No Yes
View color key details Hide color key details
Insuff. evidence Mixed results No Yes
Does gerrymandering cause polarization?
6 Studies (2001 to 2016)
View color key details Hide color key details
Insuff. evidence Mixed results No Yes
View color key details Hide color key details
Insuff. evidence Mixed results No Yes
Do gun buyback programs reduce gun violence?
11 Studies (1994 to 2016)
View color key details Hide color key details
Insuff. evidence Mixed results No Yes
View color key details Hide color key details
Insuff. evidence Mixed results No Yes
Does gerrymandering cause polarization?
6 Studies (2001 to 2016)
View color key details Hide color key details
Insuff. evidence Mixed results No Yes
Color Key
For yes/no questions, the colors correspond to the answer that each study gives to the question.
Insufficient evidence to reach a conclusion Mixed results No Yes
The space that each color occupies represents the percentage of that response. For example, if there are 20 studies that examine a question and you see half red and half green, that means 10 studies answered "no" to the question and 10 studies answered "yes".
For other questions, the colors correspond to information about each study.
Literature review Highly regarded source No info to report on study source
BROWSE QUESTIONS BY CATEGORY
Public Policy
Finance
Childcare
Sports
How it works

Search for questions for which State of K users have already built study lists.

Or answer a new question by using our platform to quickly find all the studies that examine your question.

How to improve public understanding
State of K offers several ways to help you improve public understanding on vital questions.
Build a list of studies on a question you care about

Do you think an important question is not being addressed correctly in the news? Build a list of studies on that question (or a set of questions) and share your list on social media.

We also promote State of K among decision-makers and influential scholars and researchers, and to the public at large. We want to help you influence public debate with the best available data.

TITLE OF STUDY Save to my list
Author(s)
Publication Year
Source
Funders
TITLE OF STUDY Save to my list
Author(s)
Publication Year
Source
Funders
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Add a question to consider

Are you concerned that a question on State of K might lead readers to a conclusion you are skeptical of? Or do you want to bring attention to a new dimension of a question? Submit what we call a "question to consider". These are questions that you want readers of a particular question to also consider.

You submit your additional question and then create a list of studies for it. Links to "questions to consider" appear on the sidebar of a study list.

Say you find a study list for:
Do voter ID laws reduce voter fraud?
If you are skeptical of such laws, submit something like:
Do voter ID laws reduce voter turnout among citizens?
If you are worried about voter fraud, submit something like:
How prevalent is voter fraud?
If you are neutral, but curious, submit something like:
Do voter ID laws increase trust in democracy?
Add responses to studies

You may come across a study that you know has been critiqued or wholly debunked.

Use State of K to submit that critique so whenever that study appears on our platform, the critique will appear as well.

EXAMPLE: Are presidential democracies more likely to be become dictatorships than parliamentary democracies?
Presidentialism, Parliamentarism, and Democracy
AUTHOR: Jose Antonio Cheibub
PUBLISHED: 2007 by Cambridge University Press
Measuring the Presidential Risk Factor: A Comment on Cheibub’s Presidentialism, Parliamentarism, and Democracy
AUTHOR: William C. Terry
PUBLISHED: 2008 in Democracy and Its Development
Add studies to existing lists

If you are aware of an important study that is missing from an existing list, you can manually enter the study details to add it to the list. We encourage researchers to add their latest work if it directly examines a question.

Our algorithms also recommend studies that may examine a question. Any registered State of K user can add a relevant study to the list.

Add a specific study to this list.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Let us know if the below study examines the question.
TITLE OF STUDY Add to list
Author(s)
Publication Year
Source
Funders
Why State of K?

Many of the questions that inform our most important decisions have been studied extensively. But finding those studies - let alone understanding all their technical jargon - is too hard. The result is that people rely on uninformed opinion, ideologically biased or financially interested sources, or just plain poorly supported information. State of K seeks to solve this problem.

We start from the premise that the best available answer to an empirical question is a synthesis of all the studies that examined that question. We try to make gathering and understanding these studies as easy as possible in order to promote better decision-making in government, in investment, in childcare and in every other area that can benefit from empirical research.

Sign up for free
to answer your own questions
Sign up