TIMOTHY TRIPLETT
Senior Survey Methodologist

Statistical Methods Group

Urban Institute
500 L'Enfant Plaza SW

Washington, DC 20024

Phone: (202) 261-5579

Mobile: (240) 487-8588
Email: ttriplett@urban.org

Education:

M.P.P., University of Maryland, Master of Public Policy, 1988

   Focus: Regulatory Analysis

M.A., University of Maryland, Economics, 1984

   Focus: Econometrics, Public Choice, Development Economics

B.A., University of Maryland, Economics and Statistics, 1982

Career Brief:

Timothy Triplett is a senior survey methodologist and part of the Urban Institute’s Statistical Methods Group. His primary work focuses on studies that include survey data collection, complex sample designs and random experimental designs. He conducts methodological research addressing such issues as estimating non-response bias, weighting strategies, and imputation procedures. He is also a key survey methodologist for the Annual Survey of Refugees a national study that collects data on the assimilation of refugees in the United States. He is an expert with working with the decennial Census, American Community Survey, and the Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC) to the Current Population Survey to create survey weights, impute for missing data, or to analyze nonresponse. He brings over 30 years of survey research experience, including responsibility for national, statewide, and regional projects, sample design, developing questionnaires, and managing statistical and computer programming. He has written and presented over 25 survey methodology papers and recently served as the Chair of the AAPOR Standard’s Committee. He is also an author of a chapter on using surveys for the 2015-fourth edition of the “Handbook of Practical Program Evaluation.”

Professional Experience:

 

Present Position:

Principal Research Associate and Senior Survey Methodologist
Statistical Methods Group
Urban Institute
Washington D.C.
January 2007 to Present

 

Earlier Positions:

Survey Associate and Survey Manager for the National Survey of America’s Families

Assessing the New Federalism

Urban Institute
Washington D.C.
January 2002 to December 2006

 

Senior Project Manager and Computer Resources Manager
Survey Research Center, University of Maryland, College Park
September 1987 to January 2002

 

Research Analyst
Survey Research Center, University of Maryland, College Park
May 1983 to August 1987

 

Telephone Bank Supervisor and Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing Programmer
Survey Research Center, University of Maryland, College Park
August 1981 to May 1983

 

Current Responsibilities:

 

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES

·         Contribute essential knowledge to research studies at Urban as a statistical/methodological team member or task leader

·         Provide mentorship to early career and other research staff across all Urban centers by way of seminars, classes and one-on-one meetings

·         Manage the survey component of multiple Urban Institute projects.  

 

OTHER RESPONSIBILITIES

 

Selected Project Experience:

 

Technical leader/Survey methodologist, Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), Annual Survey of Refugees, $6.3 million, February 2016 – Present - Since the 1980s, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) has conducted the Annual Survey of Refugees (ASR), which collects information on refugees during their first five years after arrival in the U.S. The ASR is the only scientifically collected source of national data on refugees’ progress toward self-sufficiency and integration. ORR uses the ASR results alongside other information sources to fulfill its Congressionally mandated reporting requirement following the Refugee Act of 1980.

 

Principal Investigator, AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, National Driving Exposure Survey, and the Senior Cohort add-on Module, $2.8 million, 03/2012-12/2017 - A continuous survey to measure the driving behavior of the American public. The American Driving Survey is a national survey of persons 16 and over who drive of light vehicles (autos, SUVs, trucks) and live in households with landline telephone or cellular telephone service.

 

Project Manager, Hudson Institute, 2016 Global Philanthropy Index, $54,297, July 2015-July 2016 - This mixed-mode survey contacted a national sample of church congregations to gather information about their support of international giving and relief. This survey was conducted three times (2009, 2010, and 2016) by the Urban Institute. Timothy’s role as the survey manager entails overseeing the sampling, data collection, data processing, and producing estimate of international giving.

 

Principal Investigator, National Endowment for the Arts. Design of the 2008 and 2012 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, $170 thousand, June 2006 – December 2007 and June 2010 - December 2012 – Timothy Triplett has worked on the design of the SPPA starting with original SPPA study in 1982. Timothy is also the principal investigator for both the 2008 and 2012 SPPA planning studies. These planning studies collect information relevant to increasing the value and accuracy of the future SPPA surveys. This work includes conversations with both users and subject area experts about content and methods. The final deliverables included a report with recommendations on survey methods and possible changes to the SPPA questionnaire.

 

Principal Investigator, National Endowment for the Arts. Design of the Annual Arts Basic Survey (AABS), $43,310, 06/2010 – 10/2011 - Like the SPPA the AABS is sponsored by the United States National Endowment for the Arts. Timothy Triplett was the Principal Investigator that developed the design of the AABS. This survey design work included cognitively evaluating the survey questions and conducting a pilot study in 2012.

 

Survey Manager, Massachusetts and Washington DC Health Departments, Health Insurance Surveys, about 200 thousand dollar per survey, annual survey from 2005 through 2010 -  These health insurance surveys are innovative in their use of an address-based sampling frames and multi-mode data collection as a replacement for studies that previously were conducted only by phone using RDD samples. This approach has now been used successfully for seven separate Massachusetts general population studies with interviews done with over 19,000 people. This methodology was also implemented for a 2009 general population study in Washington D.C. for which more than 4500 interviews were completed. Timothy was the survey manager for these projects, which entails managing the sample releases including some oversampling low-income neighborhoods in the city.

 

Survey Manager, Sponsored by 13 different non-profit foundations, Third round of the National Survey of America’s Families (NSAF), multimillion dollar project, 2001 through 2006 - The National Survey of America's Families survey provides quantitative measures of child, adult, and family well-being in America, with an emphasis on persons in low-income families.   Timothy was the Survey Manager for the third round of the NSAF. His role included evaluating and monitoring sampling procedures, survey data collection, developing NSAF Public Use files and preserving internal survey data files. Timothy was a contributing author and the lead editor for the 2002 NSAF methodology series of reports. Although most of the methodology reports are written for a technical audience, the series does include several of the non-technical reports (Questionnaire, public use user’s guide) aimed at a more general audience.

 

Principal Investigator experience prior to working at Urban:

 

MARYLAND SUBSTANCE ABUSE DEPENDENCE ASSESSMENT SURVEY - A statewide telephone survey of 5,095 randomly selected Maryland residents, age 18 or over. The interviews were conducted over a two-year period, with interviews ending in November 1994. The study's primary goals were to estimate alcohol, drug use, and substance dependency in Maryland. As the project manager, mainly responsible for design of the questionnaire, sample design and preparing the results of the study for the University's Center for Substance Abuse Research (CESAR).

 

MORTECH (Mortgage Technology Study) - A telephone interviewing project conducted for Real Estate Solutions. A total of 650 telephone interviews are conducted with a nationwide random sample of commercial banks, Mortgage banks, and Savings and Loans. The questionnaire asked the senior executive in charge of the mortgage loan operation, technology, and computer usage. This study was conducted every two years starting in 1988 and ending in 1998. Served as the project manager and handled the sample and questionnaire design.

 

TIME USE STUDY - sponsored by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. A two-year study of how Americans use their time. Besides coordinating the project, was responsible for the design of the computer assisted telephone interviewing 24-hour time diary. Also, responsible for designing and managing a two-year nationwide random digit dialing sample that yielded roughly 10,000 completed surveys. Many design features from this study were adopted and are now incorporated into the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s American Time Use Survey.

 

 

Selected Publications:

 

Journal Articles:

“Who Has Trouble Reporting Prior Day Events?”  Survey Practice, January 2017 (with Brian Tefft, and Rob Santos)

 

“Current Knowledge and Considerations Regarding Survey Refusals: Executive Summary of the AAPOR Task Force Report on Survey Refusals” Public Opinion Quarterly (Summer 2015) (with David Dutwin, John D. Loft, Jill Darling, Allyson Holbrook, Timothy Johnson, Ronald E. Langley, Paul J. Lavrakas, Kristen Olson, Emilia Peytcheva, Jeffery Stec, and Andrew Zuckerberg)

 

“Leisure, Free Time and Cultural Consumption” International Encyclopedia of Social & Behavioral Sciences (2014) (with John P. Robinson)

 

“Can Your Spouse Accurately Report Your Activities? An Examination of Proxy Reporting” Survey Practice, (February 2010)

 

“Comparing Random Digit Dial (RDD) and United States Postal Service (USPS) Address-Based Sample Designs for a General Population Survey: The 2008 Massachusetts Health Insurance Survey” Survey Practice, (June 2009) (with Susan Shear, David Dutwin, Doug Wissoker, and Sharon Long)

 

“Florida’s Medicaid Reform: Informed Consumer Choice?” Health Affairs 27 no. 6 (2008): 513-522 (with Teresa A. Coughlin, Sharon K. Long)

 

“What can Survey Organizations do to improve their Client Relationships?” Survey Research Newsletter: 1-4, (September 2007)

 

"A Review of SDA: Survey Documentation and Analysis" Journal of Official Statistics 18, no. 1 (March 2002): 120-121.

 

“How Long Should You Wait Before Attempting to Convert a Refusal?" American Statistical Association 2001 Proceedings of the Section on Survey Research Methods (with Julie Scheib and Johnny Blair)

 

"A Comparison of Mail and E-Mail for a Survey of Employees in U.S. Statistical Agencies" Journal of Official Statistics 15, no. 1 (March 1999): 39-56 (with Mick P. Couper and Johnny Blair)

 

"Initial Cooperators versus Converted Refusals are there Differences in Data Quality?" American Statistical Association 1996 Proceedings of the Section on Survey Research Methods Volume II (with Johnny Blair, Teresa Hamilton and Yun Chiao Kang)

 

"Survey Sponsorship, Response Rates, and Response Effects" Social Science Quarterly September 1992 (with Stanley Presser and Johnny Blair)

 

"The Flotilla Entrants" Cuban Studies, Volume 1, January 1982 (with Robert Bach)

 

Book Chapters:

"Using Surveys" Chapter 14 in the fourth edition of the Handbook of Practical Program Evaluation (with Kathryn Newcomer)

 

"Using Surveys" Chapter 12 in the third edition of the 2010 Handbook of Practical Program Evaluation (with Kathryn Newcomer)

 

"Using Surveys" Chapter 9 in the second edition of the 2004 Handbook of Practical Program Evaluation (with Kathryn Newcomer)

 

"Using a parallel "CASES" instrument to edit call record information and remove incorrect data (A description of the SRC fixit program)." Statistical Policy Working Paper 25, Data Editing Workshop and Exposition (1996), Chapter 7, Statistical Policy Office, Office of Management and Budget (with Beth Webb)

 

Published Reports:

“Public Comment on Initial Proposals from the Federal Interagency Technical Working Group on Race and Ethnicity Standards for Revising OMB’s 1997 Statistical Policy Directive No. 15” Urban Institute Press, April 2023 (with

Rita Ko, Rekha Balu, Claire Bowen, Danielle DeRuiter-Williams, Rejane Frederick,

Nancy M. Pindus, Marokey Sawo, Alena Stern, Jonathan Schwabish, and Sonia Torres Rodríguez)

 

“2020 ASR Annual Survey of Refugees Data File User’s Guide - A Technical Research Manual” In the Spring of 2021 ORR completed its 54th Annual Survey of Refugees (ASR). The data from the ASR offer a window into respondents’ first five years in the United States and shows the progress that refugee families made towards learning English, taking part in the workforce, and setting up permanent residence. This user’s guide presents basic information on the 2020 ASR public use data file. (With Paola Echave) (July 2022)

 

“Insights from the 2021 Meals-to-You Program Expansion (MTYx21)” Urban Institute Press, March 2022 (with Poonam Gupta, Emily Gutierrez, Theresa Anderson, Fernando Hernandez-Lepe, and Elaine Waxman)

 

“An Evaluation of THRIVE East of the River: Findings from a Guaranteed Income Pilot during the COVID-19 Pandemic” Urban Institute Press, February 2022 (with Mary Bogle, Emily Bramhall, Olivia Fiol, Peace Gwam, Elaine Maag, Eleanor Noble,  Peter A. Tatian, and Fay Walker)

 

“District of Columbia Child Care Policy Research Partnership Study” Urban Institute Press, January 2022 (with Heather Sandstrom, Peter Willenborg, Fernando Hernandez-Lepe, and Erica Greenberg)

 

“Experiences and Impacts from the 2020 Meals-to-You Program” - This research report shares Year 2 (2020) findings from an ongoing evaluation of the Meals-to-You (MTY) program, a pilot program administered by the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty (BCHP) and funded by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). This report covers the 2020 sMTY program in Texas, New Mexico, and Alaska and the eMTY program. (With Elaine Waxman, Theresa Anderson, Kristin Blagg, Poonam Gupta, Fernando Hernandez-Lepe, Timothy Triplett,

Craig Gundersen) (October 2021)

 

“2018 ASR Annual Survey of Refugees Data File User’s Guide - A Technical Research Manual” In the Spring of 2019 ORR completed its 52nd Annual Survey of Refugees (ASR). The data from the ASR offer a window into respondents’ first five years in the United States and shows the progress that refugee families made towards learning English, participating in the workforce, and setting up permanent residence. This user’s guide presents basic information on the 2018 ASR public use data file. (With Carolyn Vilter) (July 2020)

 

“The Role of Personal Tastes and Preferences in Arts Participation”- This monograph explores the various pathways that Americans may take to access and engage in a variety of artistic activities. Throughout the monograph, we apply a definition of arts participation that includes a broad range of cultural and arts activities, from the conventional benchmark arts to more accessible artistic and cultural activities. (With Connie Brown and Erin Morehead) (July 2019)

 

“2016 ASR Annual Survey of Refugees Data File User’s Guide - A Technical Research Manual” In the Spring of 2017 ORR completed its 50th Annual Survey of Refugees (ASR). The data from the ASR offer a window into respondents’ first five years in the United States and shows the progress that refugee families made towards learning English, participating in the workforce, and setting up permanent residence. This user’s guide presents basic information on the 2016 ASR public use data file. (With Carolyn Vilter) (July 2018)

 

“Methodology for the VoicesDMV Survey” - Voices of the Community: DC, Maryland, Virginia (VoicesDMV), is a community engagement initiative from the Greater Washington Community Foundation, in partnership with the Urban Institute, designed to lift up residents’ stories and perceptions of the quality of life in the Greater Washington region. More than 3,000 respondents in Prince George’s County, Northern Virginia, Montgomery County, and Washington, DC were surveyed as part of the initiative. This brief discusses the methodology for the 2017 VoicesDMV survey. (December 2017)

 

“Policy Research and Analysis on Refugee Self-Sufficiency and Integration

Task Order: Reweighting the 2015 Survey of Refugees” The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) is currently overseeing a redesign of the Annual Survey of Refugees (ASR) to ensure the survey presents representative data on the refugee population. As a part of this effort, ORR tasked the Urban Institute with reweighting data from the Fiscal Year 2015 ASR to more accurately reflect the refugee population. This technical report describes procedures and results from revising the 2015 ASR survey weights. (With Rob Santos, and Cary Lou) (October 2017)

 

“American Driving Survey 2014–2016 Methodology Report” To address the need for current data regarding driving exposure in relation to driver, vehicle, and trip characteristics, the AAA Foundation commissioned researchers at the Urban Institute to perform, develop, and implement a data collection system to collect national-level data on the driving of the American public. The data collection system, the American Driving Survey, consists of daily telephone interviews of a representative sample of the United States population, in which respondents aged 16 years or older are asked to report all driving that they did over a 24-hour period the day before the interview. (With Rob Santos, Brian Tefft, and Sandra Rosenbloom) (August 2017)

 

“Summary Report for the AAAFTS Aging Cohort Driver Exposure Study Module

(Data: June 2015-August 2016)” The purpose of the current Aging Cohort Driver Exposure Study Module is to create for the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety (AAAFTS) an augmented set of national data on aging drivers that complements, strengthens and advances the research objectives, design and the data content of the LongROAD Study.  This module was added to end of the National Light Vehicle Use Survey (aka the American Driving Survey) which is a nationally representative study that annually gathers data on the driving exposure of distinct groups of drivers. (With Rob Santos, and Sandra Rosenbloom) (August 2017)

 

“Early Implementation of the Head Start Designation Renewal System: Volume I & II” - The Head Start Designation Renewal System (DRS) is an accountability system to determine whether Head Start grantees are delivering high quality, comprehensive services and to implement a competitive grant making process in communities where they are not. (With Teresa Derrick-Mills, Margaret R. Burchinal, Elizabeth Peters, Allison De Marco Nina Forestieri, Saunji D. Fyffe, Devlin Hanson, Caroline Heller, Eleanor Pratt. Heather Sandstrom, and Tyler Woods) (November 2016)

 

“American Driving Survey: Methodology and Year One Results, May 2013 – May 2014” On behalf of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, the Urban Institute conducts a continuous survey to measure the driving behavior of the American public. The American Driving Survey is a national survey of persons 16 and over who drive of light vehicles (autos, SUVs, trucks) and live in households with landline telephone service or cellular telephones. The results of the first year’s data collection are presented in this report. (With Rob Santos, and Sandra Rosenbloom) (April 2015)

 

“A Decade of Arts Engagement: Findings from the Survey of Public Participation in the Arts, 2002-2012” National Endowment of the Arts Research Report No. 58. Washington D.C.: National Endowment for the Arts, January 2015 (with Bohne Silber)

 

“Current Knowledge and Considerations Regarding Survey Refusals” Prepared for AAPOR Council by the Task Force on Survey Refusals operating under the auspices of the AAPOR Standards Committee, (September 2014) (with David Dutwin, John D. Loft, Jill Darling, Allyson Holbrook, Timothy Johnson, Ronald E. Langley, Paul J. Lavrakas, Kristen Olson, Emilia Peytcheva, Jeffery Stec, and Andrew Zuckerberg)

 

“Developing a National Data Collection System to Estimate Light Vehicle Travel in the United States - Summary Analysis of the Pilot Study and Final Recommendations” The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety (AAAFTS) adopted an initiative to regularly produce national estimates of light vehicle driving exposure. This report summarizes our pilot experience and findings, and it presents our final recommendations for full implementation of a data collection system in 2013. (With Rob Santos, and Sandra Rosenbloom) (December 2012)

 

“Massachusetts Health Insurance Survey Methodology Report Survey Year: 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011” The report is divided into eight sections. The first section (Section I) describes the design of the sample used for the survey. Section II discusses the design of the survey instrument. Section III describes the data collection strategy. There were some changes in data collection procedures introduced in the 2009 MHIS that were intended to improve the response rate to the survey. Those changes are described in Section III.  Data processing and preparation are described in Section IV.  Section V addresses the response rate to the survey. Section VI describes the survey weights and variance estimation. Section VII estimates the share of non-landline telephone households while Section VIII presents estimates of the uninsurance rate in Massachusetts for each year.   (With Sharon, Long, David Dutwin, and Susan Sherr) (November 2011)

 

“2009 District of Columbia Health Insurance Survey: Methodology Report” This report describes the methods used to conduct the 2009 DC Health Insurance Survey, which collected information on insurance status and options in the District of Columbia. Data collection strategy, survey design, data processing, weights and response rate are among the discussed details. (May 2010)

 

“2008 Public-Use Data File User’s Guide - A Technical Research Manual” In 2008, the U.S. Census Bureau fielded the National Endowment for the Arts’ sixth Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA). The SPPA is the nation’s largest recurring cross-sectional survey of adult participation in arts and cultural activity. Besides informing NEA-commissioned reports and policy decisions, the raw data are shared with non-NEA researchers for their own use. This User’s Guide presents basic information on the 2008 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA) public-use data file. (June 2009)

 

A methods report is written for all data collection projects conducted by the “The Role of Faith-Based and Community Organizations in Post-Hurricane Human Services Relief Efforts” The events surrounding hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 produced one of the largest disaster responses by nongovernmental, charitable organizations, including both faith-based and community organizations (FBCOs). This report is based on a telephone survey of 202 FBCOs that provided disaster-related human services and in-depth, field-based case studies of eight organizational responses after the hurricanes. The survey findings address what types of services were provided, to whom, and the collaborations used by FBCOs to deliver services. (With Carol J., De Vita, Fredrica D. Kramer, Lauren Eyster, Samuel Hall, and Petya Kehayova) (December 2008)

 

“2008 Massachusetts Health Insurance Survey Methodology Report” The report is divided into seven sections. The first section (Section I) describes the design of the sample used for the 2008 survey. Section II discusses the design of the survey instrument. The next two sections describe our data collection strategy (Section III) and data processing and preparation (Section IV), respectively. Section V addresses the response rate to the survey. Section VI describes the survey weights and variance estimation. The last section (Section VII) presents estimates of the uninsurance rate in Massachusetts in 2008. (With Sharon Long, David Dutwin, and Susan Sherr) (December 2008)

 

“Estimates of the Uninsurance Rate in Massachusetts from Survey Data: Why Are They So Different?” This methodological research brief described how estimates may vary because of differences in the wording of the insurance questions asked in the surveys, differences in question placement and context within the survey, differences in survey design and fielding strategies, differences in accounting for missing data and other data preparation, and differences in survey fielding time frames. (With Sharon Long, Stephen Zukerman, Alison Cook, Kate Norhal, Tracy Siegrist, Cindy Wacks) (August 2008)

 

“Summary Report for the 2008 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts Planning Study” This report summarized the recommendations from the 2008 SPPA planning study. The SPPA provides primary knowledge on the extent and nature of participation in the arts in the United States. The planning study for the 2008 SPPA focused on three major concerns, data collection methodology, sampling, and the questionnaire.  (August 2007)

 

“Sampling, Weighting, and Variance Estimation for the 2005 National Survey of Nonprofit Governance” This report described the sampling and weighting procedures used to produce survey weights that can be used to generate representative estimates of the various populations analyzed. In addition, this paper describes how to estimate sampling errors that can be incorporated into tests of statistical significance when using the survey weights. (February 2006)

 

“2002 NSAF Nonresponse Analysis (Methodology Report)” This report focuses on the characteristics of nonrespondents to the 2002 NSAF and assesses the impact of nonresponse on the NSAF statistics. It includes analysis of the effectiveness of the call attempt and refusal conversion strategies across all three rounds of NSAF data collection, offering some insights on how the level of effort affects the quality of the data by reducing nonresponse. This report also includes a sociodemographic comparison of nonrespondents using census block information obtained for 2002 nonrespondents and respondents. (June 2006)

 

“Lessons Learned from the National Survey of America’s Families” Urban Institute Press, Discussion Paper: 06-04, (December 2006) (with Laura Wherry)

 

“Five Questions with Tim Triplett” Urban Institute Press, Interview done December 2006

 

“SPPA Advisory Committee Meeting Summary Report” This report summarized the Advisory committee meeting discussion that was held to get feedback to the National Endowment for the Arts on how best to conduct their next Survey of Public Participation in the Arts. (November 2005)

 

“Weighting Procedures and Variance Estimation for the 2005 U.S. Level of Fair Housing Literacy Survey” This report was added to project report as an appendix that describes the weighting procedures used to produce the survey weights needed to generate representative estimates of the various populations analyzed in the report. Also, this appendix describes how to estimate sampling errors that can be incorporated into tests of statistical significance when using the survey weights. (October 2005)

 

“2002 NSAF Data Editing and Imputation (Methodology Report)” This report focuses on the data editing techniques and imputations that were unique to the 2002 NSAF data processing steps. It is a supplement to the 1997 and 1999 NSAF data editing reports (No. 10 in both series), and does not reiterate the data editing techniques, data processing, and coding guidelines documented in these prior reports. (July 2005)

 

“2002 NSAF Collection of Papers (Methodology Report)” This report is a collection of occasional papers on technical issues in the design, implementation, and operation of the 2002 round of the NSAF. It is a companion report to the 1999 methodology series Report No. 7 NSAF Collection of Papers and the 1997 methodology series Report No. 16 NSAF Technical Papers. All the papers in this collection were presented at either the annual May American Association for Public Opinion Research conference or the annual August Joint Statistical Meetings. (With Natalie Abi-Habib, Tamara Black, Simon Pratt, Adam Safir, Rebecca Steinbach, John Wivagg and Westat) (February 2005)

 

“Background Report on the Use and Impact of Food Assistance Programs on Indian Reservations (Research Report)” This report, prepared for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, reviews existing data sources and prior research on six programs operated by the Department that provide food assistance to American Indians living on or near reservations. (With Ken Finegold, Nancy Pindus, Laura Wherry, Sandi Nelson, and Randolph Capps) (January 2005)

 

“NSAF Public Use File User’s Guide (Methodology Report)” This report provides documentation for the 1997-2002 NSAF Public Use Files, which includes data on approximately 42,000 households, yielding information on over 100,000 people. This report gives an overview of the survey, describes the sample design and methodology used, and discusses the limitations on use of the survey data. After providing an overview of the NSAF data, it also describes how to use the data files and offers instructions and examples on how to use the NSAF survey weights. (With Natalie Abi Habib and Adam Safir) (November 2004)

 

“NSAF Survey Methods and Data Reliability (Methodology Report)” This report in the Round Three Methodology Series provides readers with an introduction to the National Survey of America's Families, its sample design, data collection techniques, and estimation methods. An overview is also provided describing the survey's dual-frame design, the format of interviews, and the types of questions asked. In addition, the methods used to reduce errors and compensate for those that are unavoidable in data collection are described. Finally, the report presents information on the survey's resulting reliability--both through sampling and non-sampling errors. (With Natalie Abi Habib and Adam Safir) (September 2004)

 

“2002 NSAF Questionnaire (Methodology Report)” This report in the Round Three Methodology Series focuses on the 2002 NSAF questionnaire. The introductory chapter describes the household screener and covers respondent selection, types of NSAF interviews, and the NSAF family definition so that the reader may gain a better understanding of the NSAF questionnaire. The second chapter describes differences in the survey instruments between the 1999 and 2002 NSAF surveys. The rest of the report provides the full text of the 2002 questionnaire. (With Natalie Abi Habib and Adam Safir) (April 2004)

 

"What is gained from Additional Call Attempts & Refusal Conversion and what are the Cost Implications?"  A report made available on my website that updates the research done on total call attempts and refusal conversion at the University of Maryland's Survey Research Center. This report is updated with current data on an annual basis. (Last update November 2002)

 

"A Study of Residents and Employer Attitudes and Awareness Concerning Air Quality in the Washington, D.C. and Baltimore, MD Metropolitan Areas” Report prepared for the Baltimore and Washington Metropolitan Council of Governments. Report summarized the findings of a 1997-98 ozone awareness survey conducted by the Survey Research Center. (With Clifford Fox) (April 1998)

 

"A Study of Residents and Employer Attitudes and Awareness Concerning Air Quality in the Washington D.C. and Baltimore, MD Metropolitan Areas” Report prepared for the Baltimore and Washington Metropolitan Council of governments. Report summarized the findings of an ozone awareness survey conducted by the Survey Research Center (with Clifford Fox) (March 1997)

 

"Factors Affecting Academic Performance of Student Athletes: Focus Groups of Current and Former Athletes" The report prepared for the campus committee investigating ways of improving academic performance of student athletes. The report summarized the findings of two focus groups that consisted of former and current student athletes. (With David Rohall) (August 1994)

 

"Marylander's Participation in the Arts" This was the main report prepared for the Maryland State Arts Council. Report describing the methodology and results of a Maryland Statewide Survey conducted to measure the Economic impact of the Arts in Maryland. (June 1989)

 

"Responses of Maryland Public to Certain Advertising Practices" Report prepared for the State of Maryland Consumer Protection Agency (with John P. Robinson, Sue Dowden) (January 1989).

 

"Graduate students, faculty and staff interest in a Campus Child Care Facility" Main writer of May 1988 report prepared for the University of Maryland’s Chancellor's Office. Report evaluated University's need of a Campus Child Care Facility. (With Dana Wagner, Teresa Hamilton) (May 1988)

 

"Public Participation in the Arts: User's Manual" Prepared for researchers planning to do further analysis on the SPA'82 and SPA'85 data. (With Jeff Holland)

 

"Public Participation in the Arts: Project Report for SPA'85" The main report prepared for the research division of the National Endowment for the Arts on the 1985 data. (With John P. Robinson, Carol A. Keegan, Marci Karth)

 

"Public Participation in the Arts: Project Report for SPA'82" The main report prepared for the research division of the National Endowment for the Arts on the 1982 data. (With John P. Robinson, Carol A. Keegan, Terry Hanford)

 

Professional Conference Presentations:

 

“Conducting Effective Surveys with Immigrant and Refugee Populations

The Annual Survey of Refugees (ASR)” This presentation will talk about the data collection challenges and complexities of conducting the Annual Survey of Refugees (ASR). The ASR is a telephone survey that collects information on 1,500 refugee families during their first five years after arrival in the U.S. It is the only scientifically collected source of national data on refugees’ progress toward self-sufficiency and integration. It collects information in twenty languages, capturing a sizable portion of the diversity in the U.S. refugee population. In this presentation we plan to discuss how some of the lessons learned on the ASR can be used to improve the methodology used on other nationally representative telephone surveys or cross-cultural surveys. This research was presented at the April 2024 IFDTC conference held in Cleveland, Ohio.

 

 “How nonresponse on cross-cultural telephone surveys differs from what we have learned about nonresponse from general population telephone surveys.” Anyone who has worked on general population telephone surveys is accustomed to seeing higher response rates among women and lower response rates among younger adults. However, on the Annual Survey of Refugees (ASR) we notice that these and other trends associated with response rates often differ diametrically from general population telephone surveys This presentation documents how nonresponse in the ASR differs by key demographics such as language, educational attainment, gender, age, and other factors.  This research was presented at the May 2023 AAPOR conference held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

 

“Addressing Nonresponse Error in a Longitudinal Tracking Survey Measuring the Economic Impact of the Pandemic” To assess the pandemic’s economic impact, we fielded a longitudinal, rapid turnaround tracking survey with a nationally representative sample of adults ages 18 to 64. Tracking survey participants were recruited from a survey conducted in March/April with members of a probability-based online panel. Nonresponse rates in the follow-up tracking survey were higher among adults who reported experiencing negative employment effects in March/April, and these differences in nonresponse increased between the first and second tracking survey waves. This reweighting approach aligned weighted estimates for March/April outcomes in the September sample with estimates from the March/April sample, and likely reduced nonresponse error. This paper was presented at the May 2021 AAPOR virtual conference.

 

“The Value of Census Data to the Fire Service” This presentation compared the Decennial Census with the American Community Survey (ACS). Discussed the richness of the ACS, how to get access to the ACS data, and limitations of the ACS data. Also covered in this presentation were other useful Census data such as the American Housing Survey, Current Population Survey, Economic Census, and the Social Vulnerability Index  This was presented on April 28, 2021 for the NFORS | International Public Safety Data Institute.

 

"Report on the Mean Call Attempts to Complete an Interview" A paper presented at the 1992 Field Directors Conference. The paper measures the difficulty of reaching various demographic groups in terms of number of call attempts needed to complete an interview.

 

“Demographic characteristics of respondents who are more likely to have problems reporting prior day events” Research has shown that surveys that require respondents to recall events can be subject to relatively elevated levels of measurement error.  The analysis looks at over 14,000 reported driving trips from data collected from 4,744 respondents who reported having been the driver for at least one driving trip on day prior to day they were interviewed (yesterday). This paper was presented at the May 2016 AAPOR conference in Austin Texas.

 

“Reconciling Public Participation Rate Differences in Census Bureau versus Academic/Commercial Survey Estimates” The Survey of Public Participation in the Arts (SPPA) was first conducted in 1982 to provide accurate benchmarks of Americans’ participation in the arts. When the 1997 SPPA was conducted by a commercial survey firm (Westat), rather than the US Bureau of the Census, the arts participation estimates were notably higher than in the previous three surveys conducted by Census in 1982, 1985 and 1987 (as well as subsequent SPPA surveys conducted by Census in 2002 and 2008). This research explores several explanations for these higher figures. This paper was presented at the May 2014 AAPOR conference in Anaheim California.

 

“When Proxy Interviews are Acceptable: Does it help to speak with the Spouse or Partner?”  This paper looks at differences between proxy and self-reported estimates for measures of attendance at cultural events. Of interest, will be comparisons between men and women’s self-reported estimates compared with what their partners report they do. In addition, given the large sample size of proxy reported data we will explore whether difference in proxy reporting varies by age, education, race and possibly other population sub-groups. This research was presented at the 2014 AAPOR conference in Anaheim California.

 

“When proxy interviews are acceptable: Does it help to speak with the spouse or partner?” In most situations, you usually want to question your targeted respondent directly, however many surveys allow a knowledgeable person to answer on behalf of others. This presentation looks at recent survey studies to explore proxy out of necessity, proxy used to increase efficiency, and proxy reporting by design to see what information can be reliably collected by way of proxy and looks at whether spouse or partners are good proxy respondents. This research was presented at the May 2012 International Field Director's and Technology Conference in Orlando, Florida.

 

“Alternate Strategies for Obtaining Cell Phone Samples:  Preliminary Comparisons of Cell Phone Respondents Attained from RDD and ABS Samples in Massachusetts” The purpose of this research was to not further investigate the decline in the use of landline RDD, but rather to compare two promising alternative solutions. The first solution is to select a sample using the United States Postal Service (USPS) delivery sequence file (DSF). This sampling method is referred to as address based (AB) sampling and is becoming popular because virtually all households have an address, and almost all households receive mail from the USPS.  The second solution is to conduct the telephone survey using both a landline RDD sampling frame and a cellphone RDD sampling frame. This research was presented at the May 2011 AAPOR conference held in Phoenix, Arizona.

 

“Survey Design of the Study of Congregational Giving for International Development & Relief” This methods research was presented at the 2010 Association for Research on Nonprofit Organizations and Voluntary Action (ARNOVA) conference. The presentation described the methodology and key findings from the 2009 survey of U.S. congregations.  The main goal of this nationally representative survey was to estimate how much international relief is given both directly and indirectly by congregations of all sizes and denominations.

 

“Comparing Random Digit Dial (RDD) and United States Postal Service (USPS) Address-Based Sample Designs for a General Population Survey: The 2008 Massachusetts Health Insurance Survey” This paper was presented at the 2009 AAPOR conference in Hollywood Florida. This paper compares respondents from a Random Digit Dial (RDD) sample design with respondents from a United States Postal Service (USPS) address list sample design for a general population study conducted to gather information on health insurance coverage in Massachusetts. The research provides insight into the coverage and cost/benefit trade-offs that researchers can expect from RDD sample designs that conduct all interviews over the phone versus using a full or combined USPS address sample design that utilizes a multi-mode (phone, web, mail) data collection approach.

 

“Can your spouse accurately report your activities – an examination of proxy reporting from the 2008 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts” This paper was presented at the 2009 AAPOR conference in Hollywood Florida. This paper explores the extent to which proxy reporting may have resulted in over or under reporting participation. Of interest were comparisons between husbands reporting about the wives’ activities and vice a versa.  Also, this paper explored whether the quality of proxy reporting varies by key population subgroups.

 

“Tips on how to write better survey questionnaires” This was a short course presentation given to a group of 35 people attending the May 2008 International Field Director's and Technology Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana. This short course summarized and provided some of the key tips that are useful in writing questionnaires.

 

“Finding low-income telephone households and people who do not have health insurance using auxiliary sample frame information for a random digit dial survey” This research was presented at the May, 2007 American Association for Public Opinion Research Conference held in Anaheim, California and at the August, 2007 DC-AAPOR seminar in Washington, D.C.  This paper describes the results of oversampling low-income areas in Massachusetts by separating telephone numbers into high, medium and low-income strata based on census tract information for each telephone exchange’s 100 banks of telephone numbers.

 

“Socio-Demographic Study of Telephone Survey Nonrespondents” This research was presented at the November 2005 Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology Conference held in Arlington Virginia. This research looks at the differences between respondents and nonrespondents to the 2002 National Survey of America’s Families (NSAF). Auxiliary information about nonrespondents comes from the 2000 census at the block group level.

 

"Evaluating Recall Bias" This research was presented at the May 2005 International Field Director's and Technology Conference in Miami, Florida. For questions requiring the respondent to recall information the length of the recall period has been shown to positively correlate with the potential for recall bias. The large number of interviews and long field period makes the National Survey of America's Families (NSAF) a good study to investigate the seriousness of this problem.

 

"The National Survey of America’s Families, 1997-2002: A Project Summary of Response Rate Initiatives, Implementation, and Results" This research was presented at the May 2005 American Association for Public Opinion Research Conference held in Miami, Florida. The survey was conducted in 1997, 1999, and 2002, yielding information on over 40,000 families and 100,000 persons in each round.  For each round of data collection, several strategies were employed to improve declining response rates, including various systems of pre-notification mail-outs, incentive structures, changes in call scheduling, refusal conversion, and refusal sub-sampling.

 

"Using an E-Mail Invitation to Screen Survey Respondents" This research was presented at the May 2004 American Association for Public Opinion Research Conference held in Phoenix, Arizona. Internet surveys can be designed so that the respondent can simply click on a link that indicates that they do not want to fill out the survey.   The link could be embedded in the e-mail invite or for on-line invite surveys they could be included on the invite page. The decline option would be appropriate for those respondents that are not actually the end-user and, thus, cannot answer most of the questions.  This option can potentially improve your response rate estimate as well as provide more information about your respondents. However, there is a concern that the decline option would provide an easy out for legitimate respondents.  This research analyzes the effect the decline option had on the response rate and survey responses. 

 

"Sampling nonrespondents, why, when, and how much?"  This research was presented at the August 2003 Joint Statistical Meeting held in San Francisco. This research paper looks at some of the other potential benefits from sampling nonrespondents besides the obvious time and cost savings.

 

"Success and Failures of Various Approaches People Have Been Using to Try and Maintain Decent Response Rates" Organized this panel discussion held at the May 2003 International Field Director's and Technology Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. This expert panel discussion was put together to discuss the problems of survey nonresponse. Special emphasis being placed on finding a consensus about what things seem to work as well as what does not work.

 

"Comparing Incentives at Initial and Refusal Conversion Stages on a Screening Interview for a Random Digit Dial Survey" This research was presented at the May 2003 American Association for Public Opinion Research Conference held in Nashville, Tennessee. This paper describes the results of an experiment that tested the use of pre-paid incentives to increase response rates at the initial household contact on a random digit dial (RDD) survey. The goal of the experiment was to assess the relative effects of sending money prior to the first interview or at the refusal conversion stage. Sending money prior to the first call should increase the initial cooperation rate and thereby reduce the amount of time spent converting refusals. Conversely, waiting to send money at refusal conversion may more effectively target those persons for whom an incentive will make the biggest difference.

 

"Determining the Probability of Selection for a Telephone Household in a Random Digit Dial Sample Design is Becoming Increasingly More Difficult" This research was presented at the May 2003 American Association for Public Opinion Research Conference held in Nashville, Tennessee. For many years, researchers using a RDD sample design could estimate the total number of residential telephone numbers in a household by simply asking one, sometimes two, and at most three questions. For the 2002 study a more complex set of questions was asked of each household which included learning more about what these additional phone numbers were being used for. This paper compares the results of these questions with other large RDD studies, with earlier rounds of NSAF, and discusses the impact these questions have on the probability of selection adjustments.

 

"Using a Short Follow-up Survey to Compare Respondents and Nonrespondents" This research was presented at the August 2002 Joint Statistical Meeting held in New York City. The research analyzes the potential for nonresponse bias in the 1999 National Survey of America's Families (NSAF) survey. To examine the potential for nonresponse bias, a follow-up survey of a sample of respondents and refusals from the NSAF screener interview was conducted by a different survey organization than the one which conducted the main survey. The follow-up survey had key items from the main survey, which were used to examine differences between respondents and nonrespondents on these measures.

 

"Collecting Time Diary Data Using a Web Survey - Does It Produce Similar Results?" Within minutes the time diary information that is entered can be converted into the traditional minutes per day data file. However, how does this data compare with traditional paper diary forms or telephone diaries that researchers have traditionally used? This presentation evaluated both the advantages and disadvantages of the web diary, using student diary data for comparison purposes. This presentation was done at the May 2002 International Field Technology Conference in Clearwater, Florida.

 

"Effects on Survey Estimates from Reducing Nonresponse in the National Survey of America's Families" This presentation presented the results of research conducted to analyze the effects of the extensive efforts to reduce potential nonresponse bias in NSAF survey estimates. This poster presentation was done at the May 2002 American Association for Public Opinion Research Conference in St. Petersburg, Florida.

 

"Comparing an E-mail Survey with a Web Survey" This presentation compared a government employee satisfaction survey that had been conducted in previous years using an e-mail questionnaire with a version done entirely using a Web form. The presentation discussed the advantages and disadvantages of both modes of data collection with recommendations for future employee satisfaction surveys. This presentation was done at the May 2001 International Field Technology Conference in Montreal, Canada.

 

"How Long Should You Wait Before Trying to Convert a Refusal?" How long should you wait before trying to convert a telephone refusal? Often you hear the argument that you should allow a cool down period of two or three weeks. However, project schedules often force us to start refusal conversion well before this two to three-week period. Perhaps more importantly, there is not any real quantitative evidence that two or three weeks are needed to improve the chances of successful refusal conversion.  This presentation was done at the May 2001 American Association for Public Opinion Research Conference in Montreal, Canada.

 

"Internet Data Collection - What Have We Learned and What Do We Do Next?" This presentation reviewed earlier e-mail studies conducted at the University of Maryland Survey Research Center. This presentation was done at the May 2000 International Field Technology Conference in Portland, Oregon

 

"A Transition from Paper Training Manuals to On-Line Training Manuals" This presentation showed how the Survey Research Center has begun the process of implementing the use of HTML formatted telephone supervisor manuals. This presentation was done at the May 1999 International Field Technology Conference in St. Petersburg, Florida.

 

"Changing Patterns of Telephone Call Attempts" Organized, presented and chaired this panel discussion on the changing pattern of telephone call attempts in RDD studies and how these changes are affecting budgets, response rates and auto-scheduling algorithms. This panel presentation was done at the May 1999 American Association for Public Opinion Research in St. Petersburg, Florida

 

"Using Groupware to Improve Questionnaire Design" This presentation outlined and showed how the Survey Research Center uses Lotus Notes to improve questionnaire design. This presentation was done at the May 1998 International Field Technology Conference in St. Louis, Missouri.

 

"Results from The CASES users Survey" This was a presentation of the results from the electronic mail questionnaire that was sent to organizations that use the CASES software. This presentation was done at the May 1997 Field Technology Conference.

 

” To Minimize Call Attempts: How Many Times Should a Phone Number be Tried" This was presentation done at the May 1997 International Field Directors Conference held in Norfolk, Virginia. This presentation used results from several survey projects to decide what strategy would reduce the call attempts needed to complete interviews. In addition, the presentation went over how this strategy would affect the final sample distribution.

 

"Trials and Tribulations - Using E-mail for Conducting Surveys” This paper was presented at the May 1997 AAPOR conference held in Norfolk, Virginia. The presentation described the procedures and difficulties that occurred in using E-mail for collecting data from a large sample of Federal employees. This presentation was also done at the May 1997 International Field Technology Conference also held in Norfolk Virginia.

 

"Using a parallel CASES instrument to edit call record information and remove incorrect data (A description of the SRC fixit program)" This paper was first presented at the March 1996 Data Editing Workshop and Exposition held at the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This research was revised and presented again at the May 1996 International Field Technology conference held in Salt Lake City, Utah. The presentation described both how the fix-it program works and how other organizations could easily develop their own in-house editing program.

 

"Initial Cooperators versus Converted Refusals are there Differences in Data Quality?" This was presented at the 1995 International Field Directors & Technologies Conference. The presentation was revised then presented again at the May 1996 AAPOR (American Association of Public Opinion Research) in Salt Lake City, Utah. This presentation showed that respondents who initially refused but later agreed to complete an interview provided less information than those who cooperate from the start.

 

"Call Attempts and Refusal Conversion Cost Analysis" Presented at the 1994 International Field Directors/Technologies Conference. This paper focused on the costs of making more call attempts and refusal conversion.

 

"Design and Implementation of a Survey Cost Information Data Base” Presented at the 1994 International Field Directors/Technologies Conference. This paper explained the procedures and design plans for the comprehensive management information system that is used at the University of Maryland’s Survey Research Center. Both the goals of tracking costs and survey performance for all projects and technical programming issues were discussed in this presentation.

 

"How Important are Additional Call Attempts" A paper presented at the 1993 Field Directors Conference. This paper looked at both the benefits and costs of increasing call attempts and trying to complete interviews with respondents who initially refused to take part. Besides presenting this paper, served as chair for the session on refusal conversion, in which this paper was presented.

 

"Automated Management of Two Stage RDD" A paper presented at the 1993 Field Technologies Conference. This paper describes the programs developed to improve efficiency in releasing and managing a two-stage RDD sample with replacement.

 

"An Alternative Respondent Selection Process for Random Digit Dialing Surveys" A paper presented at the 1989 Field Directors Conference. The paper documents the respondent selection process used on many of the surveys conducted at the University of Maryland's Survey Research Center.

 

"Activity Pattern Differences Between Telephone and Non-Telephone Households" Presented at the International Conference on Telephone Survey Methodology, Charlotte, North Carolina, 1987. The paper looked at time diary records of houses with and without telephones (With John P. Robinson).

Select Volunteer Services:

 

Served on the American Association of Public Opinion Research’s (AAPOR) executive council as the Associate Standard’s Chair and then as the 2020/2021 Standard’s chair. The AAPOR Standards Committee is charged with the responsibility to support, check, and improve professional standards in public opinion and survey research. This committee promotes the AAPOR Code of Professional Ethics and Practices, helps oversee the Transparency Initiative, guides AAPOR Task Forces, and provides members with resources on professional ethics and best practices. The Standard Definitions Committee and the Transparency Initiative Coordinating Committee report to the Standards Chair.

 

Served four years as Co-chair of the AAPOR Transparency Initiative Coordinating Committee (TICC). AAPOR has worked for decades to encourage objective survey standards for practice and disclosure. The Transparency Initiative is AAPOR’s approach to the goal of an open science of survey research. The TICC looks to recognize those organizations that pledge to practice transparency in their reporting of survey-based findings. 

 

The organizer and meeting planner for the Urban Institute’s American Community Survey (ACS) User’s group. This involves maintaining and keeping the ACS intranet web site up to date as well finding topics and presenters for future user group meetings.

 

Serving or previously served on three AAPOR committees; the membership committee (2012 through 2015); the transparency initiative (2013 to present; and the standards committee (2014 to present).

 

Served as a subcommittee chair on the AAPOR survey refusal task force that produced a report that defines; What is a refusal; How to avoid refusals; How to convert refusals; and how do we better protect the rights of respondents who choose not to take part?

 

AAPOR program committee volunteer (2008-2014): Reviewed abstract submissions and helped select and organize sessions for the AAPOR Conferences.  Served as a Docent for new AAPOR members at the conferences and helped set up and guide people who attended the poster sessions.

 

Webmaster for the DC-AAPOR website (2007-2012). Awarded in 2012, the “DC-AAPOR 2012 Outstanding Service Award” in recognition of my redesigning, improving, and maintaining the DC-AAPOR website.

 

Secretary and Membership Chair for DC-AAPOR (2007-2008): DC-AAPOR is the largest local chapter of the American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR). As a member of the executive council the secretary’s primary role was to help plan seminars and events, answer members’ questions, and recruit new members.

 

President of the College Park Berwyn District Civic Association (BDCA) (2004-2007):   Founded in 1885, the Berwyn District Civic Association (BDCA) is the one of the oldest civic associations in the State of Maryland. Tim continues to play an active role as the Vice President and still maintains the BDCA web site (www.myberwyn.org).

 

Program Chair for the 1998 International Field Technology Conference: This position involved putting together technology sessions for the 1998 International Field Directors and Technology Conference held in St. Louis, Missouri, May 1998.

 

Assistant Program Chair for the 1997 International Field Technology Conference: This Position involved helping plan technology sessions for the 1997 International Field Directors and Technology Conference held in Norfolk, Virginia, May 1997.

 

1978-1982: Research Internship - United States Department of Labor - the Employment and Training Administration - Research Division: Helped evaluate grant proposals, worked on in-house research projects, and wrote SAS programs to analyze data.

 

Consultant Work:

 

SWITCHBOARD (International Rescue Committee) – 2024

Provided technical assistance on how refugee practitioner well-being and effectiveness may be leveraged to improve outcomes for refugees in the United States.

 

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES (Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation) - 2021

Prepared a presentation on questionnaire design and cognitive testing with special emphasis on doing surveys during a Pandemic.

 

EASTERN RESEARCH GROUP – 2012, 2013  

Consulted on the feasibility, sampling possibilities, and survey design for a study that   would collect second-by-second data on a randomly selected set of light-duty OBDII-compliant in-use personal vehicles in the United States. The focus of the data collection will be to collect data that quantifies fuel economy (FE), which is the distance driven per volume of fuel, and the major factors that influence fuel economy.

 

TEMPLE UNIVERSITY - 2010

Constructed survey weights for a telephone survey conducted in Philadelphia city and surrounding counties. This work included providing documentation on how to use the weights and how to consider the survey design effects when estimating standard errors.

 

NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS – 2008, 2009  

Help develop the survey design for the National Endowment Arts survey of outdoor arts festivals. Provided recommendations on how to improve the sampling methodology and reviewed the survey questionnaire. Also, provided help with putting together an OMB application to get the survey approved.

 

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN’S INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH - 2007  

Created a set of new national survey weights for a Howard Schuman project on collective preferences in Democratic politics.

 

CORPORATION FOR NATIONAL AND COMMUNITY SERVICES - AMERICORPS PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT PROJECT: - 2004, 2005

Provided help in developing a sampling strategy, assisted with questionnaire design, helped obtain OMB clearance, and provided support in creating data set weights.

 

WEBUSE- SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ON THE INTERNET: - 2002, 2003

Trained graduate students on how to create on-line data sets for posting on the University of Maryland’s “WebUse” data archive website. In addition, edited and updated several of the current on-line data files.

 

PEW INTERNET & AMERICAN LIFE: - 2001

Created an on-line time diary form for collecting time diary data on the internet. In addition, developed tools to extract and aggregate data from the web server into a SPSS data file structure.

 

AMERICAN'S USE OF TIME PROJECT: - 2000

Cleaned and edited earlier time diary data files. Created a new aggregate activity data file for internet users to perform on-line statistical analysis. These data files are available at the University of Maryland's "WebUse” data archive website.

 

NEW ENGLAND RESEARCH INSTITUTES: - 1999

Tested and evaluated a new Windows based computer-assisted telephone interviewing software program.

 

MONTGOMERY COUNTY LIBRARIES: - 1998

Helped design and validate a sampling plan for estimating the loss rate of materials at each library in the Montgomery County public library system. This included providing sampling error estimates for each individual library in the public library system as well as an overall county sampling error estimate.

 

REAL ESTATE SOLUTIONS: - 1997

Combined five mortgage banking studies that were conducted every two years starting in 1988. Besides merging, recoding and cleaning five data files, wrote data set documentation and a created a master codebook.

 

U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORT: - 1996

Put together a time use data file containing eight-time use studies done between the years 1965 and 1995. Using this time use file, made a series of computer runs for a U.S. News and World Report article on parental time.

 

U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY: - 1996

Reviewed and evaluated the Report "Results Tables from a Detailed Analysis of the National Human Activity Pattern Survey (NHAPS) Respondents".

 

NEW ENGLAND RESEARCH INSTITUTES: - 1996

Reviewed and evaluated a proposed Windows based computer assisted telephone interviewing software program.

 

HUGHES CORPORATION: - 1994, 1995

This work included writing a questionnaire that was used to collect information from scientists about their data information needs. Also, it provided help in developing methodology for administering a questionnaire on the World Wide Web so scientists around the world could fill out the questionnaire.

 

RESOURCE PLANNING CORPORATION: - 1992, 1994

Wrote methodology report describing the three modes of data collection (personal, telephone and mail) used in three nationwide time-use studies done at the University of Maryland during 1985 and 1986. This work included combining data from these three time-use studies into one easy to use data base.

 

CALIFORNIA AIR RESOURCES BOARD: - 1989

Developed time diary coding procedures that would be useful in a study aimed at measuring air exposure rates. Also, created a diary database with minutes per activity as the unit of analysis.

 

LEGG MASON: - 1988, 1989

Hired as a consultant to help design a survey instrument that would be used to measure the retail effect of a new subway station. Also, consulted on the sample design of the market study and helped in statistical analysis of this Washington Metro study.

 

STATE OF MARYLAND'S CONSUMER PROTECTION DIVISION: - 1988

Helped design questions on people's perception of advertising. Testified (as an expert witness) about the validity of the telephone survey that collected information on people’s perceptions of advertising questions.  Also, analyzed results of questions asked of Maryland residents that pertained to the Hecht Company lawsuit.

 

SURRES (Survey Research Division of Applied Technology Corp.): - 1984-1988

Responsible for the implementation of projects between SURRES and the University of Maryland's Survey Research Center. This included writing computer programs for telephone questionnaires, developing computer software and setting up computer networks. In addition, this work included generating random digit dial samples and other sample designs.

 

UNIVERSITY RESEARCH FOUNDATION: - 1983, 1984

Consulted on research proposals and questionnaire design issues and wrote computer programs for telephone questionnaires. Coordinated statewide evaluation of information services in County library facilities. For the library study, my main responsibility was organizing the data collection process.

 

Select Survey Research Computer Programs Developed:

 

Add or Delete Program - A program written in Visual Basic, that removes lines or adds line to an ASCII file. One purpose of this program is to add blank lines to sampling databases so that sample can be printed on call record sheets. Another use is the removing of unwanted records from data sets or to prevent printing extraneous sampling information on the call record sheets. The program has been expanded to include options for randomizing a file, adding a random number to a file, merging multiple files and sorting a file starting at any field location.

 

Combine - A program written that combines open end text files created by the CASES' computer-assisted-telephone-interviewing software (CATI). The program will combine the text file for surveys whose case identification number is listed in a specified ASCII file. Also, this program attaches the interviewer identification number to each open-ended item.

 

Compare - A program that checks two data files and lists all column and record discrepancies. This program was written as a tool for checking the accuracy of data entry done at the University of Maryland’s Survey Research Center.

 

Impute – A program that imputes a random donor record based on a series of matching keys that includes the possibility of assigning each matching key a priority weight.   

 

Random - A program used to generate strings of random numbers that can be added to any ASCII file. The main purpose of this program is for generating random numbers to be pre-loaded into a computer assisted survey instrument.

 

Replacement - A series of programs that can be used to more efficiently draw multi-stage random digit dial samples.

 

Sample - A program used in designing and drawing random digit dial samples. This program sets up the random telephone number, case ID number, and cluster number for all Random digit dial surveys conducted at the Survey Research Center.

 

Tally - A program that enables telephone supervisors to get quick counts of how many complete interviews and refusals an interviewer has on any given shift.

Major Areas of Research Interest:

Public Opinion
Survey Research Methodology
Questionnaire Design
Survey Sampling and Weighting
Time Use
Experimental Research Designs