NORC has long been an innovator in survey design and operations, adept at data collection across multiple modes—landline, cell phone, paper, the web, and in-person interviews, as well as non-interview data sources. Our survey experts can not only work on surveys to be conducted by NORC, but can also consult with clients on internal survey development and implementation.
NORC’s experience ranges from small studies to larger longitudinal and cross-sectional studies, and includes multiple data collection modes. Our range of expertise means we are particularly skilled at helping clients evaluate the trade-offs between various survey modes and at identifying the optimal approach to data collection given a client’s research needs, available resources, characteristics of the respondent population, and survey complexity. We survey an array of respondents, including individuals and organizations, and cover a range of general topics as well as very sensitive subjects.
NORC excels at obtaining high-quality data and achieving high response rates from populations sometimes hard-to-reach or hard to survey. Our portfolio includes surveys of older adults on topics that include health and sexual behavior, racial and ethnic minorities on health topics, young people recently out of foster care on life experiences and prospects, immigrants, and high-income individuals on financial issues. NORC also has particular expertise in the collection of longitudinal data. NORC’s careful, respectful approach to respondents of longitudinal surveys, an approach anchored in careful training and regular supplemental training, has yielded high retention rates for projects of more than 30 years duration.
Specific survey data collection expertise includes: