History of BOSR

“Assisting the Citizens and Agencies since 1964 by providing Research Services."

As the research division of the Department of Sociology, the Bureau of Sociological Research (BOSR) has provided a range of research services for faculty, departments, administrative units, and students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln since it was established in 1964.  The BOSR actively works with UNL investigators on the design, implementation and completion of survey research projects.  The Bureau of Sociological Research also provides research services for state, government and local organizations outside of the University.  Information collected by the Bureau is helpful for program evaluation, budgeting justifications, and planning purposes. 

The Bureau has conducted national, regional and local surveys using a variety of survey research methods.  Our professional staff has experience working with a number of contemporary data collection methodologies and our involvement in conferences and organizations related to social research has enabled us to keep abreast of changes and trends in survey methodology and this has directly benefited the Bureau by leading to higher quality data collection and greater efficiency.

Our central administrative goal has always been to provide high quality research services to advance knowledge and to help improve social conditions. The BOSR succeeds at this goal by providing methodological consulting and survey research services for UNL faculty on funded grants to agencies such as the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse, U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration.  Another administrative goal for the Bureau has been to offer quality research services while adapting to new technologies.  We have upgraded our printing abilities, started working with scanning technologies, expanded our capacity for web-based surveys and moved into new areas of data collection such as telephone focus groups.

Services Provided

Research Design

• Consulting on survey design.
• Questionnaire design and development.
• Sampling.
• Power analyses.

Data Collection

• Computer assisted telephone interviewing.
• In-person interviewing.
• Computer assisted personal interviewing.
• Mail surveys.
• Web based surveys.
• Focus groups.
• Scanned surveys

Research Support

• Managing grant accounts.
• Human subjects’ protocol.

Data Processing

• Data entry and verification.
• Preparation of data files.
• Archival data management.
• Data analyses.
• Technical report preparation.

For more information about the services provided by the BOSR, click here.

For a consultation with one of our researchers, please fill out the following form to help us better meet your needs:

Client Consultation Form