|
Education
NuStats researchers have
both policy and hands-on experience in education and
training. Studies focus on a range of topics, including
curriculum development, school reform evaluation, and
challenges in higher education. Surveys have successfully
been conducted on-site at schools or universities with
students, teachers, and faculty; by telephone with parents
or other educational stakeholders; and by mail or Internet
with students and teachers.
Current Research
Texas Top 10
Under contract
to Princeton University, NuStats is conducting a four-year
longitudinal study of Texas public high school students.
The principal goal is to understand the impact on the
college decision making of Texas youth due to the enactment
of the Top 10 Percent Law. In 2002, NuStats conducted
in-class self-administered surveys with 33,000 sophomores
and seniors selected from 100 high schools in a two-stage
representative probability sample of Texas high school
students. The questionnaire captured current course
work, study habits, and the student's future plans after
graduation. A year after high school, NuStats conducted
the Wave 2 follow-up survey with a sample of approximately
6,000 former seniors. The Senior Wave 2 study focused
on activities after high school including military service
and employment, post high school educational experiences,
future plans, civic activities, life events, and self
esteem. A follow-up study with a sample of 3,000 baseline
sophomores will take place in their senior year (2004)
covering high school course taking, guidance, post high
school educational plans, knowledge and perception of
the college admissions process, and self esteem. The
final year of the project, 2005, will be a second follow-up
(Wave 3) study with the senior cohort.
Top of Page
Environment
and Recreation
NuStats environmental and Recreation work builds on
a long history of research on regulatory issues and
reflects a problem-solving approach of balancing concerns
for environmental protection with economic development,
government requirements, and public information. Research
topics include solid waste management, air quality,
water resources, energy, and use of public lands (and
waters) for recreational activities or economic development.
Projects include public opinion surveys, behavior measurement,
and public outreach support.
Current Research
Environmental Protection Agency
Spanish Web Portal
For the Environmental Protection Agency, NuStats
is conducting an evaluation and revision of EPAs Hispanic
Portal. This multi-task contract covers web design,
web testing and translation of EPA documents and web
pages. The research, conducted in two phases, will provide
EPA with findings on overall site structure, architecture,
content, as well as functionality, navigation and design.
People
Kimberly
Hilsenbeck
Chris Simek
Mia
Zmud
Top of
Page
Health
Research conducted by NuStats
has helped shape private- and public-sector responses
to emerging health care issues for more than a decade.
We have expertise in designing questionnaires geared
to elicit sensitive data, including use of public services,
health insurance coverage, teenage smoking habits, and
sexual issues such as behaviors at-risk for AIDS. Past
clients have used our services to large-scale databases
for policy analyses, program evaluation, and long-range
planning. NuStats has been particularly active in health
research with special populations,including immigrants,
elderly, and non-English speakers as well as research
to evaluate impacts of health education campaigns.
Current Research
National Health
Insurance Survey
For the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation,
NuStats is conducting national and state specific surveys of populations
with annual incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. The
study requires the development and implementation of a robust sampling
plan for difficult to reach populations using techniques to insure a representative
sample of 13,000 completed interviews. NuStats will be reviewing
the survey that focuses on access to care, barriers to care, utilization
of private, federal and state health plans, and health status. Nationwide
telephone interviews are planned for mid-2002. The final report will
include detailed documentation on the sampling plan, the performance of
the sample, weighting for nonresponse, and post-stratification adjustments. In
addition, the report will contain the data collection methodology, calculation
of response rates using CASRO guidelines, and topline results for policy
relevant survey questions.
Top of
Page
Hispanic
Market
NuStats conducts Hispanic/ethnic
marketing research with a sensitivity to and awareness
of the complexities of emergent ethnic markets. For
example, the U.S. Hispanic market is highly diverse.
This diversity has less to do with national origin
or
geographic location than differences in levels of assimilation
and adaptation to U.S. society. NuStats has developed
a variety of techniques for enhancing participation
rates and data quality in studies of Hispanics. NuStats
has also created Hispanic-specific measurement techniques,
such as a generational distance index that captures
Hispanics' language use, media preferences, and behaviors.
Current Research
Humana Hispanic Employee/Employer
The rapidly growing presence of Hispanics in the
work force motivated Humana to conduct a two-phase qualitative
research study to assess the needs of Spanish-speaking
employees as well as employers with a significant population
of Spanish-speaking employees. Among Spanish-speaking
employees, NuStats investigated health care needs and
health plan designs, materials, product offerings, decision-making
and influencers, and language considerations. For employers,
NuStats assessed communication needs. The findings revealed
gaps between employee needs and employer capabilities.
People
Carlos
Arce
Julie Paasche
Top of
Page
Transportation
Research
NuStats specializes in transit
and urban transportation issues. In the personal travel
survey arena, NuStats conducts large-scale, complex,
multi-stage surveys that target samples as small as
2,000 and as large as 30,000 households. In fact, the
firm has conducted more such travel surveys in the past
15 years than any other single firm in the U.S. Travel
research includes surveys of households, tourists, commercial
vehicles, and workplaces. Since 1989, NuStats has introduced
several methodological innovations that have resulted
in greater accuracy and reliability of respondents self-reports
of trip information. In the area of transportation market
research, NuStats has extensive experience in transit
on-board surveys, commuter choice studies, customer
satisfaction studies, passenger environment research,
fare studies, evaluations of advertising effectiveness
and marketing strategy, and new service evaluations
and forecasts using stated preference techniques.
See
NuStats' research in action!
Current Research
World Trade Center Investigation
On behalf of the National Institute of Standards
and Technology (NIST), NuStats is conducting the official
federal government investigation of the World Trade
Center (WTC) collapse that resulted from the September
11 disaster. NuStats will conduct qualitative and quantitative
research with three primary groups of people related
to the WTC disaster: emergency personnel first-responders
(firefighters, police, EMS), building occupants, and
families of victims who communicated with loved ones
from inside the towers prior to the collapse. The goal
of the study is to understand occupant behavior, egress
and emergency communications immediately following the
first impact. For this study, NuStats will evaluate
occupant behavior and evacuation technologies. The study
will also include an evaluation of elements such as
decision-making, situation awareness, evacuation strategies,
communications, the role of floor wardens and fire safety
directors, as well as issue concerning people with disabilities.
The results are intended to identify needed improvement
in, and to support reforms for, building and fire safety
codes, standards, and practices so that future tall-building
disasters may be prevented.
Tahoe Winter Visitor's Survey
For the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency (TRPA), NuStats
will conduct the Tahoe Winter Visitor's Survey. The
study goal is to obtain accurate travel information
to update and calibrate the regional travel demand model.
NuStats will intercept interview 250 short-term (single-day)
visitors and 250 long-term (multi-day) visitors to the
Tahoe area. Interviews will be conducted at major lodging
locations, e.g., hotels, timeshare units, and lodges,
and major activity sites, e.g., ski lodges, casinos,
shopping mall, and snowmobile trails. Data will be collected
using Pen Tablet PC's pre-programmed with the finalized
survey instrument.
TARC Transit Market Study
On behalf of the Transit Authority of River City
(TARC) in Louisville, Kentucky, NuStats is conducting
the a Transit Market Study. TARC seeks to better understand
the market for transit services in the Louisville-Jefferson
County metropolitan area and to gather data to support
a comprehensive assessment of the level and distribution
of services as inputs to its regional travel demand
forecasting models. The specific objectives of the work
are to provide data to the mode choice portion of the
regional travel demand forecasting model,
better understand the existing and potential markets
for transit service, and provide data to help increase
regional transit ridership and market share.
Top of
Page |
