Faculty Resources

How the SSRC Can Help You

Listed below are the many ways the SSRC can help members of the ODU Faculty. If there is anything else you may need and are unsure if the SSRC can help, please stop by BAL Room 2000 or email Director Tancy Vandecar-Burdin.

Grant Proposals, Evaluations & Data Collection

Are you working on a grant proposal? Do you need an evaluation of the new teaching strategy, program or intervention you are proposing? Do you need data collected via a survey, focus group, or other means?

If so we can help you in your endeavors. Many funding agencies require some type of evaluation to answer the questions: did you do what you said you were going to do and if so, what were the outcomes? The SSRC has often served as the "outside evaluator" to answer those funder questions about your project. We would be happy to meet with you to discuss research methods, data collection, and budgeting needs for your grant proposal.

Research Experience for Your Students

We provide periodic employment opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to help conduct telephone surveys, mail surveys, and other data collection tasks. We also employ one graduate research assistant with an assistantship funded by the College. SSRC graduate research assistants have majored in applied sociology, international studies, linguistics, and creative writing.

Teaching Research Methods

SSRC staff have made presentations in research methods classes regarding telephone, mail, and web surveys and how to conduct research in the "real world". Other faculty have brought their students to the Center during class-time to learn more about conducting research, to observe the CATI lab first-hand, and to discuss and ask questions about conducting social science research. SSRC staff have also reviewed student survey instruments for class projects and given feedback about wording, format, length, and dissemination.

Feedback About Data You've Collected

We are happy to meet with faculty and other individuals who are conducting their own research to provide a fresh perspective regarding your efforts as well as constructive criticism and feedback about the overall data collection plan and tools.

Data Evaluation & Analysis

The SSRC can provide basic data summary and analysis services of most quantitative (numeric) or qualitative (text) data.

Web Surveys for Faculty

Web surveys are a common tool for data collection and as a faculty member, you can have access to the Qualtrics web survey to manage your own surveys.

For those faculty who do not want to program/manage their own surveys, below are some basic pricing options to assist faculty in their planning of a web-based survey. These costs are based on the following parameters: survey length of no more than 35 questions and no complex skips or other programming needed.

• Option 1: Programming Only (the SSRC will provide an anonymous survey URL/link for faculty to distribute themselves as well as a final data set in SPSS or Excel): $500
• Option 2: Programming + Distribution (faculty provides the SSRC with an Excel email list for distribution - one invitation will be sent and up to 2 reminders): $1265
• Option 3: Programming + Distribution + Analysis (Narrative basic summary of survey results with the results presented by up to three subgroups, e.g., gender, age, etc.): $2160 For more information and confirmation of pricing, please email tvandeca@odu.edu. This pricing does include indirect costs for external funding.