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Statistical Design and Analysis

NORC statisticians and methodologists have pioneered innovations in all aspects of survey research, from understanding cognitive processes underlying respondents’ reaction to surveys and survey instrumentation to rigorous, efficient methods for conducting surveys and advanced techniques for analysis and interpretation of survey data. NORC boasts several world-renowned statisticians and methodologists, including five Fellows of the American Statistical Association.

NORC’s work in the area of respondent cognitive processes culminated in a number of key publications in the field of cognitive research, and continues to be a major strength in our organization's repertoire. NORC’s Statistics and Methodology Department makes substantial contributions to virtually all NORC projects and builds the methodological infrastructure that underlies all major NORC studies. This includes establishing statistical standards for use throughout the organization to ensure consistently high quality in the areas of sampling design and execution, development and testing of questionnaires and other instruments, statistical process control, design and development of estimation systems, statistical computing, disclosure and confidentiality analysis, record linkage, unduplication, and geocoding. In addition to these support functions, NORC statisticians and methodologists develop and execute projects with particular statistical or methodological complexities and assist social scientists from all parts of the organization in conducting research-related data analysis.

Specific areas of expertise include:

Coverage Measurement
Data Quality and Total Survey Error Models
Data Systems Integration and Data Linkage
Estimation and Analysis
Geographical Information Systems
Methods Research
Nonresponse Bias Analysis and Missing Data Techniques
Statistical Modeling, Simulations, and Experiments
Variance Estimation
Weight Calculation

Representative Projects

Healthy Communities Access Program (HCAP) Community Coalitions. One of the largest federal investments to strengthen local safety nets through community coalitions was the Community Access Program (CAP) and its successor, the Healthy Communities Access Program (HCAP). More

MCC Impact Evaluation Services in Benin. NORC is designing, coordinating, and implementing rigorous impact evaluations of the Access to Land and Access to Credit components of MCC's programs in Benin. The impact evaluations will measure the contribution of these interventions to changing household income in the project intervention areas as well as examine the total value of additional investment on targeted rural land parcels.
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MiDA-Ghana Feeder Roads Impact Evaluation. NORC and its local partner Pentax Management Consulting are conducting an impact evaluation of Ghana’s Feeder Roads Activity, to determine the impact of feeder roads improvements on farm incomes. More

Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health Across the U.S. (REACH U.S.) Risk Factor Survey. The Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health Across the U.S. (REACH U.S.) program is the cornerstone of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) efforts to eliminate racial and ethnic health disparities. NORC conducts two projects related to CDC’s REACH U.S. program. NORC conducts an annual survey in 28 REACH U.S. grantee communities to provide quantitative data to measure progress toward eliminating racial and ethnic health disparities in several health priority areas. NORC also uses existing data and a literature review to assess the role of cultural tailoring and translation on grantees’ activities related to policy, system and environmental changes. More

Survey of Doctorate Recipients. NORC conducts the Survey of Doctorate Recipients (SDR) for the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The SDR is a survey of 40,000 science and engineering doctorate recipients who earned their degrees from institutions within the United States. More

See all Statistical Design and Analysis projects