TIMOTHY TRIPLETT
Urban Institute
2100 M Street N.W.
Washington, DC 20037
Phone: (202) 261-5579
Fax: (202) 293-1918
Email: ttriplet@ui.urban.org
Web Site: http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ttriplett13/
Education:
B.A.,
M.A.,
Focus: Public Choice and Development Economics
M.P.P.,
Focus: Regulatory Analysis
Present Position:
Survey Methodologist
Statistical Methods Group
Urban Institute
January 2007 to Present
Previous Positions:
Survey Associate and Survey Manager for the National Survey of America’s Families
Assessing the New Federalism
Urban Institute
January 2002 to December 2006
Computer Resources Manager and Senior Project Manager
Survey Research Center, University of Maryland, College Park
September 1987 to January 2002
May 1983 to August 1987
Telephone Bank Supervisor and Computer Assisted Telephone
Interviewing
August 1981 to May 1983
Current Responsibilities:
MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES
· Participate in research studies at UI as a statistical/methodological team member or task leader
· Provide mentorship to junior and other research staff across all UI centers via seminars, classes and one-one-one meetings
· Manage the survey component of various Urban Institute projects.
OTHER RESPONSIBILITIES
Other Positions Held:
Secretary and
Membership Chair for DC-AAPOR (2007-Present): DC-AAPOR is the largest local chapter
of the American Association of Public Opinion Research. As a member of the executive council the
secretary’s primary role is to help plan seminars and events, answer
members’ questions, and recruit new members.
President of the College Park Berwyn District Civic
Association (BDCA) (2004-2007):
Founded in 1885, the Berwyn District Civic Association (BDCA) is the
oldest active civic association in the State of
Program Chair for the 1998 International Field Technology
Conference: This position involved putting together technology sessions for the
1998 International Field Directors and Technology Conference held in
Assistant Program Chair for the 1997 International Field
Technology Conference: This Position involved helping plan technology sessions
for the 1997 International Field Directors and Technology Conference held in
1978-1982: Research Internship - United States Department of Labor - the Employment and Training Administration - Research Division: Helped evaluate grant proposals, worked on in-house research projects and wrote SAS programs to analyze data.
Selected Survey Research Projects Coordinated:
NATIONAL SURVEY OF AMERICA’S FAMILIES (NSAF) - The
National Survey of America's Families provides a comprehensive look at the
well-being of children and non-elderly adults, and reveals sometimes striking
differences among the 13 states studied in depth. The survey provides
quantitative measures of child, adult and family well-being in
SURVEY OF PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN THE ARTS (SPPA) – a planning study sponsored by the United Stated National Endowment for the Arts. The purpose of this planning study is to collect information relevant to maximizing the value and accuracy of the 2008 SPPA. This work includes conversations with both users and content experts regarding content and method. It also includes tests of prospective or potentially problematic questions. The final deliverable is a report with recommendations on survey mode and possible changes to the content of the SPPA.
TIME USE STUDY - sponsored by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. A two-year study of how Americans use their time. In addition to coordinating the project was responsible for the design of the computer assisted telephone interviewing 24 hour time diary. Also responsible for designing and managing a two-year nationwide random digit dialing sample that yielded approximately 10,000 completed surveys.
GUMS (Gay Urban Male Study) - A health and sexual behavioral
survey conducted in households that have at least one openly gay male member.
The study involved conducting a telephone interview with a randomly selected
gay member of the household with data collection is occurring in four sites;
MORTECH (Mortgage Technology Study) - A telephone-interviewing project conducted for Real Estate Solutions. A total of 650 telephone interviews are completed with a nationwide random sample of commercial banks, Mortgage banks, and Savings and Loans. The questionnaire asked the senior executive in charge of the mortgage loan operation issues of technology and computer usage. This study has been conducted every two years beginning in 1988. As project manager, responsible for the sample and questionnaire design.
VIGNETTE - A project conducted in
Publications:
"The Flotilla Entrants" Cuban Studies, Volume 1, January, 1982 (with Robert Bach)
"Survey Sponsorship, Response Rates, and Response
Effects" Social Science Quarterly September 1992 (with
"Using a parallel "CASES" instrument to edit call record information and remove incorrect data (A description of the SRC fixit program)." Statistical Policy Working Paper 25, Data Editing Workshop and Exposition, Chapter 7, Statistical Policy Office, Office of Management and Budget (with Beth Webb)
"Initial Cooperators versus Converted Refusals are there Differences in Data Quality?" American Statistical Association 1996 Proceedings of the Section on Survey Research Methods Volume II (with Johnny Blair, Teresa Hamilton and Yun Chiao Kang).
"A Comparison of Mail and E-Mail for a Survey of
Employees in
"How Long Should You Wait Before Attempting to Convert a Refusal?" American Statistical Association 2001 Proceedings of the Section on Survey Research Methods (with Julie Scheib and Johnny Blair)
"A Review of SDA: Survey Documentation and Analysis" Journal of Official Statistics 18, no. 1 (March 2002): 120-121.
"Using Surveys" Chapter 9 in the second edition of the 2004 Handbook of Practical Program Evaluation. (with Kathryn Newcomer)
“Lessons Learned from the National Survey of America’s Families” Urban Institute Press, Discussion Paper: 06-04, (December 2006) (with Laura Wherry)
“Five Questions with Tim Triplett” Urban Institute Press, Interview done December 2006
“What can Survey Organizations do to improve their Client Relationships? Survey Research Newsletter: 1-4, (September 2007)
Technical Reports:
For all data collection projects the
"Public Participation in the Arts: Project Report for SPA'82" The main report prepared for the research division of the National Endowment for the Arts on the 1982 data. (With John P. Robinson, Carol A. Keegan, Terry Hanford)
"Public Participation in the Arts: Project Report for SPA'85" The main report prepared for the research division of the National Endowment for the Arts on the 1985 data. (With John P. Robinson, Carol A. Keegan, Marci Karth)
"Public Participation in the Arts: User's Manual" Prepared for researchers planning to do further analysis on the SPA'82 and SPA'85 data. (With Jeff Holland)
"Graduate students, faculty and staff interest in a Campus Child Care Facility" Principal writer of May 1988 report prepared for the University of Maryland Chancellor's Office. Report evaluated University's need of a Campus Child Care Facility. (With Dana Wagner, Teresa Hamilton)
"Responses of Maryland Public to Certain Advertising Practices" report prepared for the State of Maryland Consumer Protection Agency (with John P. Robinson, Sue Dowden) (January 1988).
"Marylander's Participation in the
Arts" The main report prepared for the Maryland State Arts Council.
Report described the methodology and results of a Maryland Statewide Survey
conducted for the purpose of measuring the Economic impact of the Arts in
"Factors Affecting Academic Performance of Student Athletes: Focus Groups of Current and Former Athletes" The report prepared for the campus committee investigating ways of improving academic performance of student athletes. The report summarized the findings of two focus groups that consisted of former and current student athletes. (with David Rohall) (August 1994)
"A Study of Residents and Employer Attitudes and
Awareness Concerning Air Quality in the Washington D.C. and Baltimore, MD
Metropolitan Areas" Report prepared for the Baltimore and Washington
Metropolitan Council of governments. Report summarized the findings of a ozone awareness survey conducted by the
"A Study of Residents and Employer Attitudes and
Awareness Concerning Air Quality In the Washington,
D.C. and
"What is Gained from Additional
Call Attempts & Refusal Conversion and what are the Cost
Implications?" A report made available on my web site that
updates the research done on total call attempts and refusal conversion at the
“2002 NSAF Questionnaire (Methodology Report)” This report in the Round Three Methodology
Series focuses on the 2002 NSAF questionnaire. The introductory chapter
describes the household screener and extended interview. In addition, the
chapter covers respondent selection, types of NSAF interviews, and the NSAF
family definition so that the reader may gain a better understanding of the
NSAF questionnaire. The second chapter describes differences in the survey
instruments between the 1999 and 2002 NSAF surveys. The remainder of the report
provides the full text of the 2002 questionnaire. (with
Natalie Abi Habib and Adam
Safir) (April 2004)
“NSAF Survey Methods and Data Reliability (Methodology Report)” This report in the Round Three Methodology Series provides readers with an introduction to the National Survey of America's Families, its sample design, data collection techniques, and estimation methods. An overview is also provided describing the survey's dual-frame design, the format of interviews, and the types of questions asked. In addition, the methods used to minimize errors and compensate for those that are unavoidable in data collection are described. Finally, the report presents information on the survey's resulting reliability--both in terms of sampling and nonsampling errors. (with Natalie Abi Habib and Adam Safir) (September 2004)
“NSAF Public Use File User’s Guide (Methodology Report)” This report provides documentation for the
1997-2002 NSAF Public Use Files, each set of which includes data on
approximately 42,000 households, yielding information on over 100,000 people.
This report gives an overview of the survey, describes the sample design and
methodology used, and discusses the limitations on use of the survey data.
After providing an overview of the NSAF data, it also describes how to use the
data files, and offers instructions and examples on how to use the NSAF survey
weights. (with Natalie Abi Habib and Adam Safir) (November 2004)
“Background Report on the Use and Impact of Food Assistance Programs on Indian Reservations (Research Report)” This report, prepared for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, reviews existing data sources and prior research on six programs operated by the Department that provide food assistance to American Indians living on or near reservations. The purpose of the review is to help identify future research needs and opportunities to exploit administrative data systems and recurring national surveys. The programs covered are the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR), the Food Stamp Program (FSP), and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), the National School Lunch Program, the School Breakfast Program, and the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP). Research topics of continuing importance include the impacts of reservation food assistance on health and nutrition, the characteristics that make nutrition education effective on reservations, the dynamics of program participation, and the contribution of tribal administration to program coordination. (with Ken Finegold, Nancy Pindus, Laura Wherry, Sandi Nelson, and Randolph Capps) (January 2005)
“2002 NSAF Collection of Papers (Methodology Report)” This
report is a collection of occasional papers on technical issues in the design,
implementation, and operation of the 2002 round of the NSAF. It is a companion
report to the 1999 methodology series Report No. 7 NSAF Collection of Papers
and the 1997 methodology series Report No. 16 NSAF Technical Papers. All
the papers in this collection were presented at either the annual May American
Association for Public Opinion Research conference or the annual August Joint
Statistical Meetings. (with Natalie
Abi-Habib , Tamara Black , Simon Pratt , Adam Safir , Rebecca Steinbach , John Wivagg and Westat) (February 2005)
“2002 NSAF Data Editing and Imputation
(Methodology
Report)” This report focuses on the data editing techniques and
imputations that were unique to the 2002 NSAF data processing steps. It is a
supplement to the 1997 and 1999 NSAF data editing reports (No. 10 in both
series), and does not reiterate the data editing techniques, data processing,
and coding guidelines documented in these prior reports. (July 2005)
“Weighting Procedures and Variance Estimation for the
2005 U.S. Level of Fair Housing Literacy Survey” This report was added to
project report as an appendix that describes the weighting procedures used to
produce survey weights that were used to generate representative estimates of
the various populations analyzed in the report. In addition, this appendix describes how
to estimate sampling errors that can be incorporated into tests of statistical
significance when using the survey weights.
“SPPA Advisory Committee Meeting Summary Report” This report summarized the Advisory committee meeting discussion that was held in order to get feedback to the National Endowment for the Arts on how best to conduct their next Survey of Public Participation in the Arts. (November 2005)
“Sampling, Weighting, and Variance Estimation for the 2005 National Survey of Nonprofit Governance” This report described the sampling and weighting procedures used to produce survey weights that can be used to generate representative estimates of the various populations analyzed. In addition, this paper describes how to estimate sampling errors that can be incorporated into tests of statistical significance when using the survey weights. (February 2006)
“2002 NSAF Nonresponse Analysis (Methodology Report)” This report focuses on the characteristics of nonrespondents to the 2002 NSAF and assesses the impact of nonreponse on the NSAF statistics. It includes analysis of the effectiveness of the call attempt and refusal conversion strategies across all three rounds of NSAF data collection, providing some insights on how the level of effort affects the quality of the data by reducing nonresponse. This report also includes a sociodemographic comparison of nonrespondents using census block information obtained for 2002 nonrespondents and respondents. (June, 2006)
“Summary Report for the 2008 Survey of Public Participation
in the Arts Planning Study” This report summarized the recommendations
from the 2008 SPPA planning study.
The SPPA provides primary knowledge on the extent and nature of
participation in the arts in the
Papers Presented at Conferences:
"Activity Pattern Differences Between Telephone and
Non-Telephone Households" Presented at the International Conference on
Telephone Survey Methodology,
"An Alternative Respondent Selection Process for Random
Digit Dialing Surveys" A paper presented at the 1989 Field Directors
Conference. The paper documents the respondent selection process used on many
of the surveys conducted at the
"Report on the Mean Call Attempts to Complete an Interview " A paper presented at the 1992 Field Directors Conference. The paper measures the difficulty of reaching various demographic groups in terms of number of call attempts needed to complete an interview.
"Automated Management of Two Stage RDD" A paper presented at the 1993 Field Technologies Conference. This paper describes the programs developed to improve the efficiency in releasing and managing a two-stage RDD sample with replacement.
"How Important are Additional Call Attempts" a paper presented at the 1993 Field Directors Conference. This paper examined both the benefits and costs of making additional call attempts and attempting to complete interviews with respondents who initially refused to participate. In addition to presenting this paper, served as chair for the session on refusal conversion, in which this paper was presented.
"Design and Implementation of a Survey Cost Information
Data Base" Presented at the 1994 International Field
Directors/Technologies Conference. This paper explained the procedures and
design plans for the comprehensive management information system that is
currently in use at the
"Call Attempts and Refusal Conversion Cost Analysis" Presented at the 1994 International Field Directors/Technologies Conference. This paper focused on the costs of making the extra effort. This extra effort being measured in terms of call attempts and refusal conversion.
"Initial Cooperators versus Converted Refusals are
there Differences in Data Quality?" First Presented at
the 1995 International Field Directors/Technologies Conference. The
presentation was revised then presented at the May 1996 AAPOR (American
Association of Public Opinion Research) in
"Using a parallel CASES instrument to edit call record
information and remove incorrect data ( A description
of the SRC fixit program)". This paper was first presented at the March
1996 Data Editing Workshop and Exposition held at the Bureau of Labor
Statistics. Also Presented at the May 1996
International Field Technology conference held in
"Trials and Tribulations: Using E-mail for Conducting
Surveys". This was a presentation done at the May, 1997 AAPOR conference
held in
"To Minimize Call Attempts: How Many Times Should a
Phone Number be Tried". This was presentation
done at the May, 1997 International Field Directors Conference held in
"Results from The CASES users Survey". This was a presentation of the final results from the electronic mail questionnaire that was sent out to many of the organizations who use the CASES software. This presentation was done at the May, 1997 Field Technology Conference.
"Using Groupware to Improve
Questionnaire Design". This presentation outlined and demonstrated
how the
"Changing Patterns of Telephone Call
Attempts". Organized, presented and chaired this panel discussion
on the changing pattern of telephone call attempts in RDD studies and how these
changes are affecting budgets, response rates and auto-scheduling algorithms.
This panel presentation was done at the May, 1999 American Association for
Public Opinion Research in
"A Transition from Paper Training
Manuals to On-Line Training Manuals". This presentation
demonstrated how the
"Internet Data Collection - What Have We Learned and
What Do We Do Next?". This presentation reviewed
previous e-mail studies conducted at the University of
Maryland Survey Research Center. After this historical review the presentation
went on to discuss the
"How Long Should You Wait Before Trying to Convert a
Refusal?" How long should you wait before attempting to convert a
telephone refusal? Often you hear the argument that you should allow a
cool down period of a few weeks. However, project schedules often force us to make refusal conversion well before this two
to three week period. Perhaps more importantly,
there is not any real quantitative evidence that two or three weeks is
necessary to improve the chances of successful refusal conversion. This
presentation was done at the May, 2001 American Association for Public Opinion
Research Conference in
"Comparing An E-mail Survey With A Web Survey"
This presentation compared a government employee satisfaction survey
conducted using e-mail a few years ago and most recently conducted using a Web
form. The presentation discussed advantages and disadvantages of both
modes of data collection with recommendations for future employee satisfaction
surveys. This presentation was done at the May, 2001 International Field
Technology Conference in
"Effects on Survey Estimates from Reducing Nonresponse
in the National Survey of America's Families" This presentation presented
the results of research conducted to analyze the effects of the extensive
efforts to reduce potential nonresponse bias in NSAF survey estimates.
This poster presentation was done at the May, 2002 American Association for
Public Opinion Research Conference in St,
"Collecting Time Diary Data Using a Web Survey - Does
it Produce Similar Results?" Within minutes the time diary information
that is entered can be converted into the traditional minutes per day data
file. However, how does this data compare with traditional paper diary forms or
telephone diaries that researchers have traditionally used.
This presentation evaluated both the advantageous and disadvantageous of the
web diary, using student diary data for comparison purposes. This presentation
was done at the May, 2002 International Field Technology Conference in
"Using a Short Follow-up Survey to Compare Respondents
and Nonrespondents" - This research was presented at the August, 2002
Joint Statistical Meeting held in
"Determining the Probability of Selection for a
Telephone Household in a Random Digit Dial Sample Design is Becoming
Increasingly More Difficult" - This research was presented at the May,
2003 American Association for Public Opinion Research Conference held in
"Comparing Incentives at Initial and Refusal Conversion
Stages On a Screening Interview for a Random Digit
Dial Survey" - This research was presented at the May, 2003 American
Association for Public Opinion Research Conference held in
"Success and Failures of Various Approaches People Have
Been Using to Try and Maintain Decent Response Rates" - Organized this
panel discussion held at the May, 2003 International Field Director's and
Technology Conference in
"Sampling nonrespondents, why, when, and how
much?" - This research was presented at the August, 2003 Joint Statistical
Meeting held in
"Using an E-Mail Invitation to Screen Survey Respondents" - This research was presented at the May, 2004 American Association for Public Opinion Research Conference held in Phoenix, Arizona. Internet surveys can be designed so that the respondent can simply click on a link that indicates that they do not want to fill out the survey. The link could be embedded in the e-mail invite or for on-line invite surveys they could be included on the invite page. The decline option would be appropriate for those respondents that are not actually the end-user and, thus cannot answer most of the questions. This option can potentially improve your response rate estimate as well as provide additional information about your respondents. However, there is the concern that the decline option would provide an easy out for legitimate respondents. This research analyzes the effect the decline option had on the response rate and survey responses.
"The National Survey of America’s Families, 1997-2002: A Project Summary of Response Rate Initiatives, Implementation, and Results" - This research was presented at the May, 2005 American Association for Public Opinion Research Conference held in Miami, Florida. This research presents a summary of the response rate initiatives and survey operations undertaken by the National Survey of America's Families (NSAF) across six years and three rounds of data collection. NSAF is a large-scale national survey of the economic, health, and social characteristics of children, adults under the age of 65, and their families. The survey was conducted in 1997, 1999, and 2002, yielding information on over 40,000 families and 100,000 persons in each round. For each round of data collection, a number of strategies were employed to improve declining response rates, including various systems of pre-notification mail-outs, incentive structures, changes in call scheduling, refusal conversion, and refusal sub-sampling.
"Evaluating Recall Bias" – This research was
presented at the May 2005 International Field Director's and Technology
Conference in
“Socio-Demographic Study of Telephone Survey
Nonrespondents” - This research was presented at the November, 2005
Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology Conference held in
“Finding
low-income telephone households and people who do not have health insurance
using auxiliary sample frame information for a random digit dial survey”
– This research was presented at the May, 2007 American
Association for Public Opinion Research Conference held in Anaheim, California
and also at the August, 2007 DC-AAPOR seminar in Washington, D.C. This
paper describes the results of oversampling
low-income areas in
Consultant Work:
Created some new
national survey weights for a Howard Schuman project on collective preferences
in Democratic politics
CORPORATION FOR NATIONAL AND COMMUNITY SERVICES - AMERICORPS
PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT PROJECT: - 2004, 2005
Provided help in developing a sampling strategy,
assisted with questionnaire design, helped obtain OMB clearance, and provided
support in creating data set weights
WEBUSE- SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ON THE INTERNET: - 2002, 2003
Trained graduate students on how to create on-line data sets for the webuse data analysis archives. In addition, edited and updated several of the current on-line data files.
PEW INTERNET & AMERICAN LIFE: - 2001
Created on-line time diary form for collecting time diary data on the internet. In addition, developed tools to extract and aggregate data from the web server into a SPSS data file structure.
AMERICAN'S USE OF TIME PROJECT: - 2000
Cleaned and edited previous time diary data files. Created a new aggregate activity data file for the purpose of
making it possible for internet users to perform on-line statistical analysis
at the
Tested and evaluated a new Windows based computer-assisted telephone interviewing software program.
Helped design and validate a sampling plan for estimating
the loss rate of materials in the
REAL ESTATE SOLUTIONS: - 1997
Combined five mortgage banking studies that were conducted every two years beginning in 1988. In addition to merging, recoding and cleaning five data files, wrote data set documentation and a created a master codebook.
Put together a time use data file containing eight time use studies done between the years 1965 and 1995. Using this time use file, made a series of computer runs for a U.S. News and World Report article on parental time.
Reviewed and evaluated the Report "Results Tables from a Detailed Analysis of the National Human Activity Pattern Survey (NHAPS) Respondents".
Reviewed and evaluated a proposed Windows based computer assisted telephone interviewing software program.
HUGHES CORPORATION: - 1994, 1995
Consulted on the development of a questionnaire seeking information from scientists about their data information needs. Also consulted on the methodology involved with administering a questionnaire on the World Wide Web for scientists all over the world to fill out.
RESOURCE PLANNING CORPORATION: - 1992, 1994
Wrote methodology report describing the three modes of data
collection (personal, telephone and mail) used in three nationwide timeuse studies done at the
Developed coding procedures for
LEGG MASON: - 1988, 1989
Consulted on the development of a survey instrument that would measure the retail effect of a new subway station. Also consulted on the sample design of the market study and helped in statistical analysis of this Washington Metro study.
STATE OF
Helped design questions on people's perception of
advertising. Then testified as an expert witness on the
validity of telephone survey done for the Consumer Protection Division.
Also, analyzed results of questions asked in the State of
SURRES (Survey Research Division of Applied Technology Corp.): - 1984-1988
Responsible for the implementation of projects between
SURRES and the
UNIVERSITY RESEARCH FOUNDATION: - 1983, 1984
Consulted on research proposals and questionnaire design issues. Wrote computer programs for telephone questionnaires. Coordinated statewide evaluation of information services in County library facilities. For the library study, main responsibility was the organization of the data collection process.
Survey Research Computer Programs Developed:
Add or Delete Program - A program written in Visual Basic, that deletes lines or adds line to an ASCII file. One purpose of this program is to add blank lines to sampling data bases so that sample can be printed on call record sheets. Another use is the removing of unwanted records from data sets or to prevent printing extraneous sampling information on the call record sheets. The program has been expanded to include options for randomizing a file, adding a random number to a file, merging multiple files and sorting a file starting at any field location.
Combine - A Basic program written that combines open end text files created by the CASES' computer assisted telephone interviewing software (CATI). The program will combine the text file for surveys whose case identification number is listed in a specified ASCII file. In addition, this program attaches the interviewer identification number to each open ended item.
Compare - A Basic program that checks two data files and
provides a list of column and record discrepancies. Program
written as a tool for checking the accuracy of data entry done at the
Data Conversion (clean, hhdairy) -
Two programs that were written for the time use studies conducted at the
Impute – A program that imputes a random donor record based on a series of matching keys that includes the option of assigning each matching key a priority weight.
Menu - A Visual Basic graphical interface that makes it easier for Survey Research employees to run network applications.
Random - A program used to generate strings of random numbers that can be added to any ASCII file. The main purpose of this program is for inputting random numbers into the CASES' CATI instruments.
Replacement - A series of programs that enable the Center to more efficiently perform two-stage random digit dial studies.
Sample - A Basic program used in designing and drawing
random digit dial samples. This program sets up the random telephone number,
case ID number, and cluster number for all Random digit dial surveys conducted
at the
Tally - A Basic program that enables telephone supervisors to get quick counts of how many completed interviews and refusals an interviewer has on any given shift.
Major Areas of Research Interest:
Public Opinion and Attitude Change
Survey Research Methodology
Public Choice
Questionnaire Design
Survey Sampling
Impact of the Internet on Society
Computer Networking