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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.
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Published by: University Relations,
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