A variety of services are offered by the SRL, which can be designed to meet the needs of each individual client. The SRL specializes in designing and conducting telephone interviews, web surveys, and mail surveys, but also has the capability to support in-person surveys in the Portland metropolitan area.

Flexibility is the key to our services; therefore, a service package may contain any or all of our consulting services ranging from the development of survey instruments to the analysis and interpretation of the completed data.

Consultation on Project Planning and Design

• Advise on the most productive and cost-effective method of collecting data: telephone, mail, web, and/or in-person.
• Work with an investigator to design a survey, enhancing the collection of reliable and valid data.

Survey and Questionnaire Development

• Design questionnaires and interviewing scripts for CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing) or CAPI (Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing).
• Employ effective strategies to avoid bias, maintain interest, and minimize inconvenience for respondents.
• Pretest each survey before a project is implemented.

Human Subjects Protections

• Assist in securing approval from PSU’s Human Subjects Research Review Committee.
• Prepare human subjects research applications in collaboration with the project’s Principal Investigator.
• Facilitate a federal wide assurance (FWR) between the PSU’s Human Subjects Research Review Committee and another Institutional Review Board, when appropriate.

Data Collection

Telephone Surveys

Using CATI for telephone survey research increases accuracy, efficiency, and flexibility. Each survey is programmed to guide the interviewer through the sequence of questions in the correct order based on the predetermined skip pattern, reducing data entry error. The responses are recorded directly into a data file created for each survey by the computer software. Closed-ended questions appear with all acceptable answer categories for the interviewer to choose from. Open-ended questions can be entered verbatim.

• Interviewers are extensively trained on the CATI calling system, survey research principles, and human subjects protection prior to conducting surveys and receive additional project specific training before each new survey. Interviewers are also trained on refusal techniques to maximize response rates.
• Interviews are conducted on multiple CATI call stations, which are monitored to evaluate interviewers and ensure accurate and precise data collection.
• There is always direct supervision in the lab; interviewers are routinely and silently monitored while calls are in progress for quality control purposes.
• Calls can be made during day and evening hours seven days a week, scheduled to meet the specific needs of each project.
• Interviews can be conducted in multiple languages.
• Toll-free number allows for flexible appointment and callback options.

Web Surveys

• Produce and design attractive and user-oriented web surveys.
• Provide advice on construction and layout, implementation, and data collection of web-based surveys.
• Collect and store data on secure servers.
• Email invitations to respondents identified for the web survey.
• Use the web survey approach in conjunction with a telephone survey to increase flexibility and response rate.

Mail Surveys

• Assist in designing questionnaire layout to maximize return rate.
• Produce cover and follow-up letters for the self-administered mail-out surveys, subject payment mailings, and reminder cards that may be used jointly with a phone survey or separately.
• Multiple mailing procedures may be used to maximize response rate and minimize non-response bias.
  

In-Person Interviews

During in-person interviews, our experienced and professional interviewers can get accurate and descriptive answers while following the survey research procedures and adhering to confidentiality principles.

• Interviewers are trained in survey research principles, standardized interviewing techniques, and human subjects protection prior to conducting surveys.
• Interviewers meet once a week with the coordinators and project manager for updates and reviews.
• In-person interviews can be conducted within the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan area.
  
  Focus Groups
  
  
• Our experienced and trained facilitators can conduct focus groups with pre-screened respondents to gather valuable qualitative data according to standardized procedures.
• Focus groups can be conducted within the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan area.

Supplemental Data Collection Services

The SRL can supplement any mode of data collection with:

• Developing coding forms
• Preparing cover and follow up letters
• Producing subject payment mailing and reminder cards
• Tracking respondents for longitudinal studies

Data Entry and Coding

• Data entry can be used for both in-house mail surveys and in-person interviews
• Coding scripts are developed for each survey for easier analysis
• Data verification can be done to minimize entry error

Data Analysis and Summary Reports

• Export data files compatible with most analysis software (SPSS, SAS and NUDIST)
• Perform both quantitative (univariate and multivariate) and qualitative (coding, content analysis, and summary) analyses
• Reports of real-time data collection progress, including sample and call statistics, and data frequencies
• Prepare technical reports and presentations or custom design reports and presentation styles to meet your needs