Inside Iowa State: Iowa State University

INSIDE IOWA STATE
June 14, 2002

Survey institute will epitomize strength in numbers

by Steve Sullivan and Anne Krapfl
Iowa State has created a new institute that will collect and analyze data about people, households, businesses, the environment and other institutions.

Approved in May by the Board of Regents, State of Iowa, the Interdisciplinary Research Institute for Survey Science (IRISS) includes three existing units: the Institute for Social and Behavioral Research, Research Institute for Studies in Education and the survey section of the Statistical Laboratory. No new funding was sought; funds come from the existing budgets of the three survey research units.

"Twenty-first century America finds itself in the age of information. Governments, businesses, non-profit organizations and individuals have a tremendous appetite for data, and use data to make critical decisions every day," said James Bloedel, vice provost for research and advanced studies. "Through this institute, Iowa State is positioned to be a major player on the national, and even international, stage in the collection, analysis and use of information for research and decision-making."

The institute will be stronger than the sum of its parts, said Kirk Wolter, professor of statistics and founding director of IRISS. "That strength will let us compete for larger projects in the survey research market," he said.

He anticipates external revenues to exceed $10 million next year and grow an average of 10 percent in the next several years. To not achieve that kind of growth would be "very disappointing," he said.

"The market for this type of work has grown rapidly in the last 20 years," said Wolter, who came to ISU this spring from the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. Two competitors to IRISS do survey and research work exceeding $100 million annually, he said.

The institute's staff will conduct research in such areas as agriculture and rural population trends. They also will conduct research, training, and state and federal program evaluation, and will offer outreach programs to professionals in Iowa, the United States and abroad. The heart of the work will be designing, executing, analyzing and sharing large-scale sample surveys and observational studies. Faculty, graduate students and possibly undergraduates will conduct the work.

In addition to private foundations and commercial clients, Wolter said an enormous market for data collecting and analyzing lies with the federal government, including the Bureau of Labor Statistics, federal departments of agriculture and health and human services and many of their agencies, the National Center for Health Statistics and the National Science Foundation.

IRISS will be part of the office of the vice provost for research and advanced studies. Institute work will involve the colleges of Agriculture, Education, Family and Consumer Sciences, and Liberal Arts and Sciences.