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A Guide to the Records at the Indiana University Archives

Electronic finding aid encoded by Donald C. Force

Summary Information

Repository
Indiana University Archives
1320 East Tenth Street
Herman B Wells Library E460
Bloomington, IN 47405-7000
Phone: 812-855-1127
Email: archives@indiana.edu
http://www.libraries.iub.edu/archives

Creator
Indiana University, Bloomington. Center for Survey Research.

Collection No.
C312

Extent
13 cubic feet
(13 boxes)

Language
Materials are in English.

Abstract
The Center for Survey Research was established at Indiana University Bloomington in 1981. Its primary function is to serve the academic community and policy researchers through its commitment to high quality survey research. Collection consists of surveys, correspondence, and papers related to surveys performed by the Center and its affiliates. Subjects are varied, but prominent the collection are records related to the Indiana Poll as well as surveys conducted for NASA, 1985-2005.

Access Restrictions

This collection is open for research.

Advance notice is required.

Administrative History

The Center for Survey Research (CSR) was organized in 1981. Its primary function is to serve the academic community and policy researchers through a commitment to high quality survey research. Sponsored by the Office of Research and the University Graduate School, the Center focuses on academic, social science, media, and public policy research. It does not conduct private political polling or marketing studies.

The CSR provides the management, staff, and facilities required to conduct all phases of mail, web, and telephone surveys. The surveys are tailored to the researcher’s needs. Therefore, the researcher is involved in every step of making and conducting the survey. The surveys may involve local, state, regional, national, targeted or elite populations. The CSR staff is trained in all aspects of survey research, from the preliminary stages of design to data entry of the results. The success of any survey is measured by the ability to obtain high quality survey data in a timely, accurate, and reliable manner.

One of the first activities of the CSR was to conduct the Indiana Poll. Established in 1982, the poll is an omnibus telephone survey covering a wide range of topics related to current social, economic, and political issues. The CSR usually conducts two Indiana Polls a year. The persons selected to take the poll are selected at random. Within each multiple-adult household, one adult is randomly selected to be interviewed. Individuals and organizations are allowed to add their own questions to the poll at a set price per question. They then receive a report outlining the results of the poll. Clients of the Indiana Poll have ranged from academic researchers collecting data for basic research to state agencies and nonprofit organizations that want specific information for public policy decisions.

The CSR has a strong reputation for technological knowledge, methodological innovation, and data quality. The Center staff are regularly consulted on the development and use of CATI (computer assisted telephone interviewing) programs, which are mentioned at different points throughout the collection, and especially on the use of CASES, the CATI software used at the Center. The Center was one of the first small academic survey centers to adopt the Genesys sampling system to generate random telephone number samples. Previously, only large academic and public survey organizations used the system.

In August 1987, John M. Kennedy became the director of the CSR. At the time of Kennedy’s arrival in 1987, the CSR was not conducting any surveys, and there were only ten staff members. Today the CSR has between 75 and 100 staff members, depending upon the time of year, and the number of surveys that they conduct per year has grown to the point where they now need to turn some survey requests away. This growth can be attributed to three factors: John M. Kennedy’s arrival, support from the Indiana University faculty, and the CSR’s focus on training its student workers.

Arrangement

The collection is organized into five series: Post-1988 survey studies; Pre-1988 survey studies; “No Study” survey studies; Non-CSR survey studies; and NASA. The NASA series is further organized into three sub-series: Survey studies; Papers; and Reports.

Scope and Content Note

The Center for Survey Research (CSR) records span the period from 1983 to 2005. The collection is organized into five series that are taken directly from the original order of the files as they were kept by CSR. The series are: Post-1988 survey studies; Pre-1988 survey studies; “No Study” survey studies; Non-CSR survey studies; and NASA. The NASA series is further organized into three sub-series: Survey studies; Papers; and Reports. For any large survey in which the CSR had named the individual folders, the original names were kept. The folders are arranged alphabetically, and the records within the folders are arranged chronologically. In determining which folders were Post-1988 and which were Pre-1988, the year the survey was actually implemented is the deciding factor, regardless of whether or not the folder contains materials from years before or after that.

The first series is entitled Post-1988 survey studies. It is the largest series of the collection and spans the years 1987-2001. It is comprised of the surveys done by the CSR since 1988. Two of the surveys included in the collection were on computer disks: Knee patient VNA eval and Network (1) correspondence and reports. The files were opened, and any new material was printed off and put into the collection; the disks themselves remain in the folders in which they were found. The polls that appear are surveys of the Indiana Poll, which is performed by the CSR every year.

The second series is Pre-1988 survey studies, 1983-1989, and consists of surveys conducted by the CSR before 1988. There are no surveys in the Pre-1988 survey studies series that are larger than one folder, although most of them contain the same type of information found in the Post-1988 survey studies series. This series contains the results of polls 1-10, and a survey of high school seniors that was aimed to find out how well their high school curriculum prepared them for college.

"No Study" survey studies are the name of the next series. It consists of materials from studies that were presented to the CSR but not conducted, presumably for financial reasons. The material dates from 1984-1995. Some of the surveys in this series were re-visited later and finished. The finished versions appear in the first two series of the collection.

The fourth series spans the years 1970-1993. It is entitled Non-CSR survey studies. This series consists of background information on other institutions or surveys conducted by institutions other than the CSR. Most of the information in this series can be linked to the surveys found in the first three series.

The last series is NASA and is further organized into three sub-series. The first sub-series, Survey studies, 1985-2005, contains surveys that consist of the same types of information found in the rest of the collection; most of this information was used by NASA to generate formal papers, projects or presentations. The next sub-series, Papers, spans the period from 1990-1997. As the name suggests, this sub-series is comprised of papers compiled by the CSR for NASA. The papers are arranged numerically by numbers assigned by the CSR. The last sub-series is Reports. These reports are also arranged numerically by number and were also compiled by CSR for NASA. CSR’s association with NASA may have stemmed from a personal relationship that Kennedy had with a NASA employee. Their research focused largely on the development and production of large commercial aircraft. They published an article about this topic in a publication from Ablex Press in 1998. Most of the material in this series also centers on this topic.

• Indexing Terms

• The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in IUCAT, the IU Libraries' online catalog. Materials about related topics, persons or places can be found by searching the catalog using these terms.

• • Names
  • Indiana University, Bloomington. Center for Survey Research --Archives.
  • Indiana University, Bloomington. Center for Survey Research --Records and correspondence.
  • Indiana University, Bloomington. Center for Survey Research --History --20th century --Sources.
  • Indiana University, Bloomington. Center for Survey Research --History --21st century --Sources.
  • United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration --History --20th century --Sources.
  • United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration --History --21st century --Sources.
• • Topics
  • Social surveys.
  • Scientific surveys.
  • Public opinion --Indiana.
  • Public opinion polls.

Separated Material

Any duplicates of materials, not including those published by Indiana University, have been pulled.

Administrative Information