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NORC at the University Chicago
We ensure that data, the building block of research, is the best and most complete it can be.

Quality data and rigorous analysis are the foundations of great research. NORC's Analytics and Data Science team helps clients with inputs and insights, using a broad range of statistical methods, information checks, data linkages, and programming languages to maximize data quality and utility. 

Our experts formulate the design and methodology of surveys and advise on the best strategy for executing them. Once raw data is collected, we use a broad range of statistical computing and programming languages to assess its quality, fill in the gaps through inferential methods, subject it to rigorous quantitative and Bayesian analysis, weight the results, and package the findings in a variety of ways that make the results readily accessible to end users, researchers, and the general public.

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Get to Know Our Experts

Explore the community of NORC staff working in analytics and data science. 

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Highlighted Projects

2021 Study of Jewish Los Angeles

Understanding all aspects of the Los Angeles Jewish community

Client:

Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles

2023 & 2025 Colorado Health Access Survey

Measuring Coloradoans’ insurance coverage and access to and use of health care

Client:

Colorado Health Institute (CHI)

2024 National Survey of Early Care and Education

Examining early care and education after major disruption

Client:

Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation in the Department of Health and Human Services
Analytics & Data Science Projects

Our Areas of Expertise

Data Quality Assessment

NORC's role in creating a Family Self-Sufficiency Data Center (FSSDC) exemplifies how our experts excel at finding, creating, sharing, evaluating, combining, and managing data for the greater good. Formed in partnership with NORC clients, the FSSDC functions as a data clearinghouse and research incubator for caseworkers and policymakers working to help low-income families become self-sufficient.

Data Visualization

The findings from an increasing number of studies are best understood through interactive maps and online dashboards, allowing users to navigate results visually according to a variety of factors. Our National Opioid Misuse Assessment tool integrates overdose mortality rates for counties in each of the 50 states with social determinants of health data such as unemployment rate, poverty rate, and disability status, allowing users to compare county-level information to the rest of their state and to the nation and seeing a visual representation of how the data has changed over time.

GIS & Spatial Analysis

Our expertise in geospatial modeling yields new ways of looking at old problems. One is the prevalence of tobacco shops in minority neighborhoods, which researchers had traditionally tracked on a per-capita basis by census tract. By assigning a geographic "sphere of influence" to individual retailers, NORC experts demonstrated how tobacco retailers clump together, particularly in Hispanic areas, regardless of political or government boundaries.

Data Linkage

Some questions can best be answered by combining disparate datasets. Working with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, NORC experts harnessed machine learning to produce a database that matched national health insurance claims to millions of people enrolled in Medicaid and Medicare—without compromising patient privacy.