Mission
SSRI's Survey Research Center serves the Penn State research community by providing high quality survey research services to faculty, graduate students, and institutional investigators. As a scientific center, we have four principle missions: providing survey services, promoting and contributing to the science of survey research methodology, helping faculty and student investigators prepare effective proposals for external funding, and educating members of the Penn State community on best practices and emerging developments in the survey research field.
Research Services
The Survey Research Center provides services in the areas of survey design, sampling, and data collection; survey data management; and data analysis. We have extensive expertise in telephone, mail, face-to-face, internet surveys and focus groups.
Promoting the Science of Survey Research
Our mission includes the development and assessment of new research methods, and disseminating results to the larger community of survey scientists.
Education
Research in several Penn State colleges is enhanced when faculty, post-doctoral scientists, and graduate students have extensive and cutting-edge knowledge of survey research methods. We promote such knowledge through direct engagement with research staff, through occasional short courses, and through the proposed Graduate Certificate Program in Survey Research Methods. The Center also employs undergraduate and graduate students, providing supervised experience that can serve as a pathway to careers in the growing survey research field.
Proposal and Design Support
Center staff assist researchers in estimating the costs of data collection, make recommendations for the most cost effective research designs, and provide formal budget estimates that become part of proposals for external funding. Staff also provide pre-proposal consulting on issues related to questionnaire design, mode of data collection, and sampling strategies.
Contacts
Kurt Johnson
Director, Survey Research Center
Social Science Research Institute
327A Pond Lab
Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802
PHONE: (814) 867-1290
FAX: (814) 865-3098
E-mail: kdj11@psu.edu
Patricia Wamboldt
Assistant Director, Survey Research Center
Social Science Research Institute
329 Pond Lab
Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802
PHONE: (814) 863-0169
FAX: (814) 865-3098
E-mail: pmw101@psu.edu
Eric Plutzer
Academic Director, Survey Research Center
Social Science Research Institute
219 Pond Lab
Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802
PHONE: (814) 865-6576
FAX: (814) 865-3098
E-mail: exp12@psu.edu
Last modified: 09/11/07 | Contact Webmaster
