Hazel Gaudet-Erskine (October 15, 1908 — July 10, 1975) was an American social and communications scientist and a member of the Princeton Radio Project.
In 1940 she got married and moved to Reno, Nevada, turning her back on research to devote herself to political and social work.
[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.
Four people initially played an important role in the project: Paul Lazarsfeld, Hadley Cantril, Herta Herzog and Hazel Gaudet.
While Lazarsfeld and Cantril negotiated with the leaders of the Rockefeller Foundation for research funding, Herzog and Gaudet were responsible for organizing and analyzing the results.
Although the two women apparently made the largest contribution to the study, Hadley Cantril is still called the main author of the work, whereas Gaudet and Herzog are usually mentioned only briefly as employees.
Before she took over the column, 'The Polls' consisted mainly of a list of survey results on a variety of topics without further analysis, interpretations or historical context.
[5] Gaudet-Erskine chose a contemporary theme for each issue and prepared it with survey data, analysis and opinion trends.
Above all, she dealt with controversial issues of the time: civil rights, women's roles in society, freedom of expression, religion and social assistance programs, etc.