I’ve been teaching Questionnaire Design at the University of Michigan’s Summer Institute in Survey Research Techniques, and I’m finding it hugely fun for a few reasons: 1. My students are fantastic. The Summer Institute is always an eclectic bunch. There are a lot of PhD students from other departments (public health, education, sociology…) who are using surveys as part of […]

This piece about putting a toddler to bed in 100 easy steps has been making the rounds lately, and it makes me think about the process I’ve been going through with a few clients… Finish project. Send invoice. Client returns invoice, requesting different address/ additional code/ different font size. Edit invoice. Re-send invoice. Wait. Follow up with client. Learn that invoice is […]

David Letterman is on his way out, but in his honor, here’s a top 10 list. 1. Getting locked in a strange Indian family’s bathroom after an in-home interview. The respondent had to let me out! 2. Being told by a respondent in Shawangunk Maximum Security prison that I had some “funky, Frankenstein-looking shoes.” 3. Passing out during focus groups the day after running the New […]

I found a journal I kept while working on an evaluation of two residential drug treatment facilities. Some excerpts:   March 2002: Just finished my first week! The director of the facility said there are no offices for me. I can have a computer, but no Internet access, because residents might use it (it’s contraband). We still haven’t started interviewing. April 2002: My boss, […]

I moved to New Orleans last year, and I’ve just survived my first Mardi Gras! (That’s me on Mardi Gras day.) If you’ve never experienced it, Mardi Gras is a weeks-long celebration featuring parties, costumes, and huge, elaborate parades, where onlookers clamor for beads, cups, and other goodies thrown by riders. I also managed to catch some surprising parallels between […]