http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~osrl/
EUGENE--Want to know how Oregonians feel about almost anything--from state-run
gambling to the risk of the Earth being hit by an asteroid? The Oregon Survey
Research Laboratory (OSRL) just might have the answer.
With nearly 60 part-time employees, OSRL is a powerful engine for gathering
data, mostly through telephone and mail surveys. Entering its sixth year of
operation, OSRL is nearing the 50,000 mark in completed survey interviews.
Cumulative revenues from these projects will soon surpass the $1-million
milestone.
"Research data that we collect is put to many uses. One important one is to
provide decision makers with hard numbers that can be extremely helpful," says
founding director Patricia Gwartney, a UO sociology professor. "For example, we
gathered information for a UO researcher investigating public attitudes toward
the issue of vote-by-mail. This information was presented to Oregon state
legislators as they considered the issue."
The Oregon State System of Higher Education's decision to implement its new
Master of Software Engineering (MSE) degree program was also influenced by OSRL
research. An OSRL telephone survey revealed that 40 percent of Oregonians with
college degrees are interested in taking a software engineering course; in
addition, OSRL conducted focus groups with high tech executives to learn about
the business community's perspective on the program.
In other OSRL research:
* A 1997 survey found that if the state were to hold an election on state-run
gambling, 55 percent of Oregonians would vote against it.
* Preliminary results from the National Risk Survey, currently in progress at
OSRL, show that just 15 percent of Americans think asteroids hitting Earth are
a high or moderate risk to the public, compared to 45 percent who rate tap
water as a high to moderate risk, 60 percent who feel that way about nuclear
power plants and 80 percent who think second-hand cigarette smoke poses a high
to moderate public risk.
* A survey conducted last year showed that 69 percent of Lane County adults
approved of high school nurses giving condoms to students who request the
contraceptive. Fifty-three percent of respondents believed that the nurse
should not inform the parents about their teenager's request.
"OSRL was established with a seed grant from the University of Oregon in 1992,"
says Gwartney. "OSRL's central mission is to serve as a resource and
intellectual home for faculty, staff and students involved in survey-related
research. We also offer a complete range of services to non-academic clientele
such as local, state and federal government agencies, other research
organizations, and non-profit groups."
Organizations that have used the services of OSRL include the Oregon Department
of Transportation, Oregon Economic Development Department, Oregon State System
of Higher Education, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Multnomah County
and colleges throughout the state. In addition, many researchers at the
University of Oregon use OSRL to gather databases of social and economic
information.
A central element of OSRL is the data collecting facility. Here, a bank of up
to 20 telephone stations allow trained interviewers to collect data using
sophisticated computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) equipment and
software specially designed for OSRL. Interviewers are prompted by questions on
computer screens and answers are automatically compiled. "Smart" software uses
answers given earlier in the interview to tailor subsequent questions.
"In so many cases it is vital that decision makers know what people think about
an issue, yet this information is difficult to obtain," Gwartney says. "OSRL
has the resources and expertise to solve this problem."
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