The Center for Survey Research specializes in comprehensive data collection methods including surveys, interviews, and focus groups. We exclusively offer the Lion Poll, a biannual omnibus web survey that allows organizations and researchers to contribute their own questions and gain valuable insights into public opinion on policy issues or the performance of their organization.
We are dedicated to providing the highest-quality data and actionable insights to support your research, decision making, and organizational growth. In addition to data collection, we offer a range of support, including:
At our core, we are driven to help our clients and partners—including community leaders, state officials, policymakers, academic researchers, and organizations—make a meaningful impact on their communities. Through our work, we help them:
Through surveys and site visits, we provided data that helped Pennsylvania’s Office of Child Development and Early Learning adjust subsidy rates for their statewide child-care program to reflect inflation and increased operating costs.
In partnership with Professor Emily Strohacker, we gauged Pennsylvanians’ views on allowing school officials to carry firearms. Opinions were divided, suggesting that developing a statewide policy on the matter would pose challenges, since public schools here are under local control.
Collaborating with Penn State’s College of Medicine, we facilitated a series of focus groups with African American men to gain insight into their perspectives and knowledge about prostate cancer screening. These sessions contributed to a better understanding of the views held by this specific demographic, helping shape future interventions and awareness campaigns.
We are studying Pennsylvanians’ flood-insurance purchasing habits and how knowledgeable realtors, lenders, and insurance agents are about flood insurance availability and products. This project for the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency will contribute evidence on consumer flood-insurance purchasing habits.
The Life Unites Us campaign is fighting to end the stigma surrounding opioid use disorder in Pennsylvania. The institute’s research project supporting the campaign includes two surveys per year, interviews, group discussions, analysis of secondary data, and the production of research briefs.
In much of the Center’s work, we extend our reach by collaborating with staff at the Institute and at our sister center within the Institute, the Pennsylvania State Data Center, enabling us to form the right mix of skills and expertise to make each unique project successful.
In 2020, the Institute, drawing on expertise at the Center for Survey Research, conducted a study of how the Covid-19 pandemic affected the child care industry in Pennsylvania. The study uncovered an enormous economic impact on these essential service providers, as at least 80 percent of them shut down at some point during the siege. State leaders used the information gathered as the basis for several rounds of funding grants, totaling more than a billion dollars distributed to childcare providers to help them weather the shutdowns.
Read moreAbout The Impact of COVID-19 on Pennsylvania Child Care
