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Survey Design Support & Consulting Services
The Center's research staff have exceptional experience in the design and fielding of surveys to ensure the greatest accuracy and value of the collected data. They have worked on some of the nation's premier survey research projects, and published their work in the relevant, highly regarded journals. During the Center's inaugural year the staff will work with H&S faculty in the social sciences on the design of survey projects. As time permits, these same services will be available to researchers in other schools across the University.
What are the services?
Surveys are an important tool to collect data for research in the social sciences, medicine, public health, law, education, business, and other fields. Our services include helping you do the following:
- Design your questionnaire. We can help you write questions that study participants can understand consistently and can answer accurately.
- Select your survey mode. Should participants answer your survey on paper, on the web, over the phone, or in personal interviews? We can help you choose the right mode for your study.
- Write a request for proposals and evaluate proposals from contractors. If you are hiring a contractor to collect survey data, you will want competitive bids for the project. We can help you identify the contractors, write specifications or a request for proposals, and review proposals so that you can select the best firm to conduct fieldwork.
- Develop or review a sampling plan. A good survey design defines a target population and identifies a sample to represent that population cost-effectively, and we can help.
- Calculate weights for your sample. Survey weights say how much each participant counts to represent the target population. We can help you calculate weights so your sample represents the population more accurately.
- Write your IRB protocol. Most research with human subjects requires approval from the Institutional Review Board, and we can hel you design a protocol that will be approved.
- Plan the archive of your data. Journals, sponsors, and good research practice often require that you create a permanent public archive of your data. We can help you maximize your study's impact by creating datasets that other scholars can find, understand, and use.