Survey of Nonprofit Research Activities
National Science Foundation
I served as the Survey Methodologist for the ICF project team contracted to design and conduct the National Science Foundation's (#NSF) Survey of Nonproift Research Activities. I conducted conducting exploratory and cognitive interviews with nonprofits, designed the survey instrument, created survey communications, and assisted with sample cleaning, data processing, and project planning activities.
Selected Project Descriptions
National Survey of Children's Health Redesign Best Practices Review
Department of Health and Human Services, Maternal and Child Health Bureau
As the Senior Survey Methodologist, I conducted a review of the new instrument combining the National Survey of Children's Health and the National Survey of Children with Special Healthcare Needs. The focus of the review centered around an evaluation of the question wording, logic, and advance communication materials. In addition to the merging of the two instrument the review examined the change in administration mode from telephone interview into a paper survey using Address-Based Sampling.
PROJECTS
As a research methodologist and data scientist, I performed and supervised tasks for a number of projects for federal and state government clients . Below are a sample of projects demonstrating my experience with a variety of content areas:
Health Related Behaviors Survey of Active Duty Military Personnel (2011)
Defense Health Agency (DoD) and the United States Coast Guard
The HRB survey is the flagship of military health surveys in the United States. Military personnel of all paygrades from junior enlisted to general officers from all DoD services and the U.S. Coast Guard participate in the survey. The instrument covers topics from combat and non-combat deployments, alcohol and substance use, behavioral health, sexual behaviors, health risks, nutrition, protective behaviors, and other general health topics. I served as a senior technical consultant and data analyst. After delivery of the 2011 report, I managed a follow-on project examining suicide risk and sexual assault. In addition to reporting prevalence rates within the services, I also identified several patterns of behavior relating to both sexual assault and suicide risk using latent class analysis.
Non-Response Bias Study of the AmeriCorps Member Exit Survey
Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS)
ICF was contracted to conduct a study of AmeriCorps volunteers who did not complete their exit survey at the end of their assigned service. I managed a small project team that developed the survey instrument in collaboration with the CNCS staff. We administered a web-based survey and provided statistical analyses comparing individuals who responded to the exit survey and those who completed the follow-on survey.
Election Administration and Voting Survey
Election Assistance Commission (EAC, 2010-2015)
I served as lead technical advisor and programmer for the the EAC's Election Administration and Voting Survey. The survey, mandated after several contested U.S. federal elections, collects information on the election and voting process. I designed and programmed the data collection instrument in Microsoft Excel using Visual Basic for Applications to auto-calculate, lock, and identify user entry errors. Once states completed and returned the survey instrument, I developed the VBA programs that uploaded the data into a SQL data base and exported both historical data (from previous administrations) and current data into tables for reporting final Congressional reports.
Florida Youth Surveys
Florida Departments of Children & Families, Health, Education, and Juvenile Justice
The Florida Departments conduct the annual survey of students in middle and high schools consisting of three instruments: the Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey (FYSAS, MS/HS versions) and the Florida Youth Tobacco Survey. ICF has held the contract to administer the survey since 2000, but in the latest iteration asked ICF to conduct a pilot of web-based versions of the FYSAS and to create an online reporting system. My role was to supervise the transition of the paper/pencil survey to a web-based instrument and assist with the training of Florida staff who would be administering the web-pilot. After the data was collected, I conducted analytical comparisons of the paper/pencil version and the web pilot and of several methodological tests that were included in the web-pilot. In addition, I acted as the senior technical consultant specifying the requirements for the online data reporting system and coordinating with Florida stakeholders the resultant product. The online reporting system allows users to examine weighted data allowing for quickly performing frequencies, cross-tabulations, and trend analyses. The online system is available here.
