The Office of Survey Methods Research (OSMR) plans and directs activities for evaluating and improving BLS programs, and conducts primary research on statistical and behavioral science issues relevant to the BLS mission.

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Response rates for most BLS surveys now available!


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Research Opportunities

Office of Survey Methods Research

Publications and Papers

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Statistical Survey Paper Collection

The Statistical Survey Papers series is a collection of statistical research papers maintained by the Office of Survey Methods Research. It contains papers written by BLS statisticians and behavioral scientists. Included are papers presented at the Joint Statistical Meetings and other conferences, as well as papers appearing in journals and the BLS Statistical Notes series. A sample of the papers follows. Click "More" for the complete list.

BLS Economic Working Papers

The BLS Economic Working Paper Series is a collection of research papers authored by senior economists within the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The purpose of the Series is to circulate research findings to interested readers as a means of encouraging discussion prior to publication.

Other Collections

Contact Us

Associate Commissioner  

 

 This position is currently vacant.
Senior Survey Methodologists  

 

 Polly Phipps (202) 691-7513 Survey measurement error, data quality measures, questionnaire and instrument design, response rates, modeling of nonresponse, nonresponse bias.

 

 William Mockovak (202) 691-7414 Questionnaire design, cognitive interviewing, Web surveys, usability testing, information architecture, CASIC applications, interviewer training.
Senior Mathematical Statistician  

 

 Daniell Toth (202) 691-7380 Machine learning, nonparametric regression, estimation and inference with complex sample survey data, time series analysis.
Senior Research Psychologist  

 

 This position is currently vacant.

General Information  
  Pamela Anderson (202) 691-7375  

 

Mathematical Statistics Research Center

Director Areas of Research

 

 Wendy Martinez (202) 691-7400 Computational statistics, exploratory data analysis, data visualization, outlier detection, statistical pattern recognition, spatial statistics, and the analysis of unstructured text.
Research Mathematical Statisticians Areas of Research

 

 Moon Jung Cho (202) 691-7384 Resampling variance estimation method, bootstrap variance estimation method, Balanced Repeated Replicate (BRR) method, missing or fragmented data, modeling of survey response rates.

 

 Dan Gillman (202) 691-7523 Statistical metadata, metadata standards, automated coding, terminology.

 

 Steve Miller (202) 691-7379 Statistical Methods, Measurement Error, Analysis of Data from Complex Surveys, Variance Estimation, and Inference.

 

 Randall Powers (202) 691-7381 Nonresponse, data visualization, taxonomies.

 

 Terrance Savitsky (202) 691-7382 Bayesian non-parametric inference focused on discovering sub-groups or sub-sets of the data with distinct behavioral profiles or high relevance. Methods include non-parametric prior formulations including dependent Dirichlet processes to discover sub-groups, anistropic Gaussian processes for non-linear functional data estimation, and factor analytic methods to uncover sparse latent constructs.

 

 Michael Sverchkov (202) 691-7374 Estimation and inference with complex sample survey data, variance estimation, small area estimation, calibration, time series analysis.

 

 Daniel Yang (202) 691-7530 Statistical disclosure limitation, top–coding, double-hurdle model, informed consent-to-link, respondent burden perception, recursive partitioning for complex design.
ASA/NSF/BLS Research Fellows Areas of Research
  Stephanie Eckman (202) 691-6278 Coverage error; measurement error; respondent and interviewer incentives; use of GIS in surveys.
  Monika Hu (202) 691-7412 Bayesian education, Bayesian methods, blended/hybrid learning, data confidentiality, missing data, multiple imputation, non-parametric Bayes, synthetic data.

  Phil Kott (202) 691-7568 Calibration weighting; Variance estimation; Analysis of complex survey data; Multi-phase sampling and estimation.

 

Behavioral Science Research Center

Director Areas of Research
  Jennifer Edgar (202) 691-7528 Context effects, qualitative research methods, cognitive sources of measurement error, questionnaire design, interviewer training and evaluation.
Research Psychologists Areas of Research
  Jean Fox (202) 691-7370 Usability, user experience, user interface design, usability testing, computer-assisted data collection.
  Robin Kaplan (202) 691-7383 Cognitive sources of measurement error, memory retrieval, context effects, questionnaire design, experimental and qualitative research methods, usability.
  Brandon Kopp (202) 691-7514 Nonresponse and measurement errors, questionnaire and instrument design, cognitive interviewing, usability.
  Erica Yu (202) 691-7924 Cognitive sources of measurement error, experimental methods, questionnaire design, interviewer behavior.

 
Research Statisticians Areas of Research

 

 David Biagas (202) 691-5558 Cognitive sources of measurement error, experimental design, questionnaire design, response rates, and interviewer effects .

 

 John Dixon (202) 691-7516 Nonresponse, nonsampling error, item nonresponse, measurement error, structural equation models, missing data problems, categorical data, psychometrics, multivariate methods, classification and clustering.

 

 Morgan Earp (202) 691-7387 Survey measurement error, nonresponse bias, experimental design, decision tree modeling, structural equation modeling, instrument design, and psychometrics

 

 Josh Langeland (202) 691-5037 Adaptive Design; contact strategies; nonresponse adjustment; electronic response in establishment surveys
Cognitive Laboratory

 

 Stella Godbolt (202) 691-7524 Schedules participants for studies, maintains database of volunteers, coordinates and assists with studies.