2007 ANNUAL REPORT NORC Board of Trustees Robert T. Michael Life Trustees Eliakim Hastings Moore Distinguished Craig G. Coelen* Service Professor Robert McCormick Adams President Harris School of Public Policy Studies Nathan Keyfitz NORC at the University of Chicago University of Chicago Arthur Nielsen, Jr. Chicago, IL Chicago, Illinois Dorothy Rice Eleanor Sheldon Harry L. Davis Ralph W. Muller Roger L. and Rachel M. Goetz Chief Executive Officer Distinguished Service Professor University of Pennsylvania Health Graduate School of Business System University of Chicago Philadelphia, PA Chicago, IL NORC Officers Janet L. Norwood Phil E. DePoy Senior Fellow & Counselor, New York Chairman Retired Director, Conference Board Edward O. Laumann Meyer Institute of Systems Engineering Former Commissioner of U.S. Bureau (Naval Postgraduate School) of Labor Statistics Vice Chairman Former President NORC Chevy Chase, MD Janet L. Norwood Ruckersville, VA Clayton S. Rose President John Mark Hansen Former Head of Global Investment Craig G. Coelen* Dean, Division of the Social Sciences Banking, Charles L. Hutchinson, Distinguished JP Morgan & Co, Inc. Secretary Service Professor Senior Lecturer, Harvard Business School John H. Thompson Department of Political Science and Boston, MA the College Treasurer University of Chicago Thomas F. Rosenbaum James E. Dunne Chicago, IL Provost of the University of Chicago John T. Wilson Distinguished Service Edward O. Laumann Professor George Herbert Mead Office of the Provost Distinguished Service Professor University of Chicago Board of Trustees Committees Department of Sociology and the Chicago, IL College Audit and Finance Committee University of Chicago Stephen M. Stigler Members: Harry L. Davis, Ralph W. Ernest DeWitt Burton Distinguished Chicago, IL Muller, Clayton S. Rose, Stephen M. Service Professor Stigler Edward F. Lawlor Department of Statistics University of Chicago Dean, George Warren Brown School of Executive Committee Social Work Chicago, IL Members: Harry L. Davis, John Mark Washington University Hansen, Edward. O. Laumann, Ralph St. Louis, MO Judith M. Tanur Distinguished Teaching Professor W. Muller, Janet L. Norwood, Clayton James L. Madara Emerita S. Rose, Thomas Rosenbaum, Stephen Dean & Sara and Harold Lincoln Department of Sociology M. Stigler Thompson Stony Brook University Distinguished Service Professor Montauk, NY Compensation Committee Biological Sciences Division and Gail R. Wilensky Members: Phil E. DePoy, Ralph W. The Pritzker School of Medicine Muller, Harry L. Davis University Vice-President for Medical Former Administrator of the Health Affairs Care Financing Administration, Committee on Conflicted Transactions University of Chicago and Presidential Advisor on Health Chicago, IL Care Issues Members: Janet L. Norwood, Clayton Senior Fellow, Project HOPE S. Rose, Stephen M. Stigler Walter E. Massey Bethesda, MD President Emeritus, Morehouse College Chairman, Salzburg Global Seminar *Through February 2008 Chicago, IL NORC, known since its founding in 1941 as the National Opinion Research Center, pursues objective research that serves the public interest. NORC has offices on the University of Chicago campus and in Chicago’s downtown Loop, Bethesda MD, and Berkeley CA, and a field staff that operates nationwide. NORC’s clients include gov- ernment agencies, educational institutions, foundations, other nonprofit organizations, and private corporations. Our projects are local, regional, national, and international in scope. NORC creates value for its clients by developing effective, innovative solutions that combine state-of-the-art technology with high-quality social science research in the public interest. Our researchers conduct rigorous scientific research that creates knowledge, which in turn enables societies to improve. NORC remains a leader in the development of survey and other data collection methodologies, applying new and time-tested strategies to the problems facing our world and using advanced statistical and other analytical techniques to interpret social science data. Our project work is interdisciplinary, with strong staff cooperation across substan- tive and operational areas and collaboration with the University of Chicago’s world renowned faculty. And NORC is an equal opportunity employer, committed to the personal and professional development of everyone on our staff. 2007 ANNUAL REPORT 2 Letter from the Chairman and President 4 NORC Senior Fellows 6 Focus Areas 20 Survey Operations 23 Academic Research Centers and the University of Chicago Affiliation 26 Selected Clients 1 Letter from the Chairman and President he past year saw many positive We won numerous new contracts in 2007, includ- ing work on the National Children’s Study, the largest developments for the organiza- and most comprehensive long-term study of children's Ttion and the staff. Included health and development ever undertaken in the among those are the opening of beau- United States, and an evaluation of the US Education Department’s Trio program, a suite of programs that tifully finished office space in Chicago seeks to improve postsecondary preparation and access, and Bethesda, Maryland; the addition as well as college persistence and completion rates of several new senior staff members; of at-risk students. Finally, we won a re-competition to conduct the Survey of Earned Doctorates for the the launch early in the year of a com- National Science Foundation and five other federal pletely redesigned public website; the agencies. full implementation of new telephone Other exciting work in 2007 includes growth of the technology that reduces the dialing data enclave and release of findings from the most cost of random-digit-dial (RDD) sur- recent rounds of the General Social Survey, the National veys by about 20 percent; a record Longitudinal Survey of Youth, and the Survey of Earned Doctorates. One especially rewarding aspect of our number of staff presentations at pro- research work in 2007 was release of the first findings fessional conferences; and a large from the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project number of articles by our staff accept- (NSHAP), a study of older Americans that involves col- laboration between NORC, the University of Chicago ed for publication in peer-reviewed Medical Center, and the Harris School of Public Policy. journals. We also put in place a new One of the first NSHAP findings released for publica- rate structure that is more in line with tion was that Americans remain sexually active well into their 70s and beyond. our current business structure, and corresponds more closely to that of Finally, NORC contributed to our industry’s knowledge similar organizations. about the effects of cell-phone-only households on tele- phone survey results. Kirk Wolter and the Center for Excellence in Survey Research conducted a study that will help determine how and if the rapidly growing per- centage of American homes without a land-line affects telephone surveys. 2 Edward O. Laumann John H. Thompson Chairman Acting President Two notable additions to our senior staff include be working in some parts of the world—like Mongolia Michael Samuhel, who joined NORC as a senior fel- and Lesotho—for the first time, and revisiting others— low in November, and Chet Bowie, who took over as like Qatar, Benin, and Honduras—to continue work director of the Economics, Labor and Population Studies already in progress. Our work on the Survey of Earned Department in January of 2008 after Julia Lane accepted Doctorates and the National Immunization Survey (NIS) a position at the National Science Foundation. will continue at a steady pace. It’s an exciting time to be at NORC. In February 2008, Craig Coelen stepped down as NORC’s President and CEO. During his term of nearly We are well-positioned in the new year to continue eight years, he put the organization on firm financial serving our clients at the highest level of quality and to footing and expanded its portfolio of research activities welcome a new leader who can take the organization to into several new areas, including international proj- the next level in its development. ects and work that combines technology and research. During this period, revenue and staff size more than doubled and our cadre of talented researchers contin- ued to grow. Craig led NORC in establishing sound principles of fiscal rigor and responsibility, pursuing and winning high quality new research projects, building a Edward O. Laumann John H. Thompson strong senior management team, and putting in place Chairman Interim President many innovations in technology and in survey methods. He leaves NORC in excellent shape to take advantage of new opportunities. During the search for a new President, Executive Vice President John Thompson has agreed to serve as interim president in addition to his regular job overseeing sur- vey operations. The work we have lined up for 2008 is at a historically high level. In addition to beginning new work on the National Children’s Study and the Trio program evalu- ation, we will have six very large surveys in the field, including the General Social Survey, Former Prisoners Survey, the Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey, both cohorts of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, and Making Connections. In addition, we’ll 3 NORC Senior Fellows Michael J. O'Grady Barbara L. Schneider Medicare reform Social context of Public/private plan schooling competition Adolescent transition Medicaid/SCHIP into adulthood The