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NORC
 

NORC is a national organization for research at the University of Chicago, with offices on the University’s campus, in Chicago’s downtown Loop, and in Washington DC, as well as a nationwide field staff. NORC’s clients include government agencies, educational institutions, foundations, other nonprofit organizations, and private corporations. Although its national studies are its best known, NORC’s projects--which include complex survey and other data collection strategies as well as sophisticated empirical analyses--range across local, regional, and international perspectives as well. NORC’s project work is done in an interdisciplinary framework, with strong staff cooperation across substantive areas. NORC is an equal opportunity employer committed to facilitating the personal and professional development of everyone on its staff.











  
    
What's New
Health
Health Care: Americans Want More for Less
November 14, 2006--A new national survey gauging American attitudes about health insurance shows that consumers want more coverage and choice but don’t want increased costs, that the uninsured are more likely to reject mandated health insurance, and that more than 25% of Americans are comfortable with charging obese people higher premiums. The survey, conducted by NORC and funded by the California HealthCare Foundation, was released today and the findings were published as a Web Exclusive of the policy journal Health Affairs. The paper was authored by NORC staff Marc Berk, Senior Vice President for Health Policy and Evaluation; Dan Gaylin, Executive Vice President, Health Studies; and Claudia Schur, Associate Director, Health Policy and Evaluation.

Quarterly Newsletter Available by E-mail Subscription
October 20, 2006--NORC Update is a quarterly report on activities and events at NORC. See the current issue here. To subscribe to future issues, send your email address to savage-cathleen@norc.org.

Making Connections Wave 2 In Progress
October 2, 2006--The Making Connections initiative is designed to help communities become better places to raise children. NORC conducted Wave 1 of the Making Connections Survey in 2002 and 2003 to establish a baseline. Wave 2 data collection has been completed in Des Moines, Indianapolis, Denver, San Antonio and Seattle. NORC is currently collecting Wave 2 data in Milwaukee, Oakland, Hartford and Providence. If you are participating in the Making Connections survey, click here.

Economics
Economic Turbulence: Is a Volatile Economy Good for America?
September 12, 2006--On any given day, companies come and go and jobs are lost and created. But that volatility may not be a bad thing, according to three leading labor economists, including NORC’s Julia I. Lane, who directs the Economics, Labor and Population Studies Department. In a book released today by the University of Chicago Press, the authors explain their findings from a four-year study of firms and employees funded in part by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Read the press release. See the webcast.

ABA Study Finds Women Lawyers of Color Face Discrimination at Top Firms
August 7, 2006--The American Bar Association (ABA) has released a report about a survey conducted by NORC to compile a profile of women of color in the legal profession. The study has received worldwide media attention. NORC conducted the survey and related focus groups and analyzed the data for the client. The August 3, 2006 press release is available on the ABA Website.

NORC Staff to present at 2006 Joint Statistical Meetings
August 4, 2006--Twelve NORC staff members will participate in the 2006 Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM) August 6 - 10, 2006 in Seattle, Washington. Eight staff will present papers and four others will chair or participate in special topical sessions. The JSM is the largest gathering of statisticians held in North America. It is held jointly with the American Statistical Association, the International Biometric Society (ENAR and WNAR), the Institute of Mathematical Statistics, and the Statistical Society of Canada. View the list of presenters here.

Death Penalty Study Explores Lack of Uniformity
July 17, 2006--A study conducted for the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) finds that processes and decisions that determine whether a case ends up in the federal justice system are fragmented, decentralized, and reactive, and are strongly influenced by local customs, traditions, and personalities. NORC researchers Phyllis Newton, Candace Johnson, and Tim Mulcahy contributed to the study, which grew out of two U.S. Department of Justice studies that examined the federal death penalty system and found that inmates on federal death row tended to come from minority backgrounds and from only a few geographical regions of the country. The report is available on the NIJ website.

Americans Score Highest in National Pride
June 26, 2006--A survey of people in 34 countries carried out by the International Social Survey Program reveals that Americans are proud of their country’s democratic system, their political influence in the world, their economy, their achievements in science and technology and their military. Read the official press release.

Social Isolation Study Finds Americans Have Fewer Close Friends
June 23, 2006--Researchers from Duke University and the University of Arizona have released a study using data from the General Social Survey (GSS) showing that Americans have fewer close friends than they did twenty years ago. View the study’s official press release.

NORC Presence Strong at Field Directors Conference
May 26, 2006--In a strong showing last month, 18 NORC researchers facilitated workshops, served on panels, and presented findings at the 40th International Field Directors and Technologies Conference (IFD&TC). The annual conference, held in Montreal this year, provides a forum for government, academic institutions and not-for-profit agencies to have informal communication between field director, field technology, and survey management personnel of a type not usually available in professional conventions or through professional journals. The conference focuses on innovations, work in progress, and recently completed work. View documents from the presentations here

Record Number of NORC Staff Present Findings at AAPOR
May 26, 2006--Thirty five staff members represented NORC at the 61st annual meeting of the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR), held May 18 through May 21, 2006 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. AAPOR is generally regarded as the public opinion industry’s most prestigious annual gathering. In addition to presenting papers on relevant survey research, methodology, and analysis topics, staff chaired discussions and panels, and presented posters. View documents here

Rasinski Co-recipient of AAPOR Book Award
May 26, 2006--Ken Rasinski, Principal Research Scientist of NORC’s Substance Abuse, Mental Health, and Criminal Justice Systems Department, along with co-authors Roger Tourangeau of the University of Michigan, and Lance J. Rips of Northwestern University were awarded the 2006 American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) Book Award for “The Psychology of Survey Response,” published in 2000 by Cambridge University Press. The award, announced in Montreal at the AAPOR annual meeting, recognizes influential books that have stimulated theoretical and scientific research in public opinion; and/or influenced our understanding or application of survey research methodology.


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