Mid-South Survey Research Center
300 McCord Hall
University of Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee, 38152
(901) 678-2703
(866) 336-9880
The Mid-South Survey Research Center conducts socially
significant research with public policy implications as well as research of
theoretical or academic interest. MS-SRC has conducted numerous studies since
it was established in 2003.
MS-SRC's client base includes local and state government
agencies, private and non-profit groups, and university researchers. The survey
center provides the expertise, resources, facilities, and staff for services
designed to fit specific needs. The MS-SRC research staff, assist researchers,
policy-makers, and students in choosing an appropriate research design to fit a
project's needs. MS-SRC research services include the following: research using
telephone surveys, face-to-face interviews, web surveys, and mailed
questionnaires.
The Mid-South Survey Research Center can provide expertise
for any research and assessment needs you may have, to include:
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Telephone surveys |
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Program evaluation |
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Focus group interviews |
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Policy analysis |
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In-person interviews |
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Mail surveys |
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Web-based surveys |
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Needs assessment |
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Performance measures |
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Statistical Analysis |
Mission
The Mid South Survey Research
Center’s mission is to provide high quality survey research services to
members of the University and the larger community. The MS-SRC contributes to undergraduate
and graduate education by integrating with course work and seeking innovative
ways to involve students. The
MS-SRC serves
the University of Memphis research community by providing high quality survey
research services to faculty, graduate students, and organizations in the Mid
South.
The MS-SRC does not make sales call or conduct
telemarketing.
Expertise
MS-SRC provides expertise in survey and questionnaire
design, sampling, computer technology, and advanced statistical methods.
Clients benefit from the multidisciplinary background of
MS-SRC's professional staff and affiliated faculty. Currently, staff and affiliated faculty
hold graduate-level degrees in law, social work, criminology, geography,
political science, sociology, psychology, and public administration.
Interviewers are given extensive background training on each
survey project.
Faculty affiliated with MS-SRC has experience with a wide
variety of subject populations, including prisoners, adolescents, the elderly,
teachers, business owners, recovering substance abusers, and parents of
children with special education needs. They have conducted research on topics
of interviews have ranged from the ordinary to extremely sensitive, personal
questions regarding drug abuse, race relations, domestic violence, and sexual
practices.
Resources
MS-SRC uses the Win-CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone
Interview System) system for its multi- workstation call center. This
full-featured CATI system enables the interviewer to enter responses to each
question directly into the computer. CATI provides automatic skips,
pre-programmed prompts and the routine coding of all open-ended questions. CATI
logs all attempted calls and provides an automatic scheduling algorithm which
ensures that phone numbers will be attempted at different hours on different
days until contact is made.
Quality and Service
MS-SRC provides individual attention to clients during each
stage of the research project, from initial assessment of data collection needs
to survey design to interpretation of results. Well-tested and highly developed
quality-assurance procedures and controls are in place throughout the project.
Questionnaires are developed and designed in close
cooperation with clients to ensure that valid, reliable data will be obtained.
Surveys are pretested, and well-developed coding procedures are followed for
open-ended questions.
The Win-CATI Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI)
system is a major component of the survey center's quality control. It provides
interviewers a user-friendly format and virtually eliminates potential errors
that could occur with a separate data-entry step. It provides an exact report
on the disposition of each call made, and the call-scheduling algorithm helps
ensure that respondents represent the target population.
Face-to-face interviews are conducted using strict
quality-assurance and extensive tracking procedures. In multi-wave studies
(conducted over a period of time) these procedures typically yield an 85
percent or better response rate. For field projects, follow-up verification
calls are standard procedure.
Quality controls for mailed questionnaires, including
multiple mailings, follow-up postcards, and postage-paid return envelopes to
ensure high response rates. For data entry, 100 percent verification is
standard procedure. MS-SRC conducts
verification checks of all data prior to issuing the final report on the
project.
Procedure
Persons or organizations
wanting assistance of MS-SRC staff should schedule a meeting to review their
needs. During the meeting, the
client will discuss the objectives of the study and research design strategies. All information presented during this
meeting will be used to construct a cost estimate, a time schedule, and scope
of work that meets the needs of the client.
This page was last updated on May13, 2008