Five years of Partnering with UNL Print and Mail Services
With the shift in the survey field from telephone surveys to mail surveys that BOSR widely adopted in 2010, BOSR was using our student and community data workers to stuff everything by hand. Then in 2016, we moved from the multiple floors of Benton Hall to the more updated but limited space in Oldfather Hall. Because of this lack of space, BOSR worked with UNL Print & Mail Services in 2018 to develop a system to print and machine stuff our mailings.
BOSR has been working with UNL Print & Mail Services for five years now and have seen these benefits:
BOSR project staff can now focus on managing projects instead of preparing mailings and overseeing the stuffing staff.
In part because of the increased business from BOSR, UNL Print & Mail Services has purchased new equipment and continues to look for opportunities to test it with us.
BOSR was able to continue our mail projects during the COVID-19 University shutdown.
BOSR was not seen as an essential operation so we could not get to our offices. However, UNL Print & Mail Services was classified as essential, so they could continue preparing our mailings and helped keep research going. This was not the case for other academic survey shops across the country, so we were very fortunate.
BOSR was able to do more work and take on larger projects, including the Buffett Early Childhood Education project which went out to 89,000 households in Nebraska.
UNL PRINT & MAIL SERVICES HAS SENT OVER 1.6 MILLION PIECES OF MAIL FOR BOSR SINCE 2018!
PARTNERSHIP WITH THE STATE OF NEBRASKA
BOSR has been working with the State of Nebraska on many of their recurring evaluation projects for over 15 years. Two of BOSR’s larger State projects celebrated 10 years of partnership this year.
Projects with the State
LABOR AVAILABILITY STUDY
The Department of Labor contracts BOSR to survey three to four areas per year to help workers and businesses make more informed decisions about the workforce and job market in local areas. In 2023, BOSR contacted 22,000 households in Western Nebraska about their current and previous employment, commute, work schedule, education, skills and training, salary, and benefits.
BEHAVIORAL RISK FACTOR SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM
The Nebraska Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) has been conducting surveys annually since 1986 for the purpose of collecting data on the prevalence of major health risk factors among adults residing in the state. Ten years ago, the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Surveys (DHHS), Division of Public Health, partnered with BOSR to establish a calling center to conduct more than 17,000 telephone surveys per year, which has grown to over 18,000 per year across six projects. Information gathered in these surveys can be used to target health education and risk reduction activities throughout the state in order to lower rates of premature death and disability.
OTHER RECURRING PROJECTS WITH THE STATE:
- Post-School Outcomes Project (Department of Education) since 2007
- Seat Belt Use Survey (Department of Transportation) since 2019
- Behavioral Health Consumer Survey (DHHS, Division of Behavioral Health) since 2015
- Student Health and Risk Prevention (SHARP) Surveillance System (Department of Education and DHHS, Divisions of Behavioral Health and Public Health) since 2010
- Youth Risk Behavior Survey
- Nebraska Risk and Protective Factor Student Survey
- Youth Tobacco Survey
- Nebraska Community Alcohol Opinion Survey (DHHS, Division of Behavioral Health) since 2014
- Nebraska Young Adult Alcohol Opinion Survey/Nebraska Young Adult Risk Behavior Survey (DHHS, Division of Behavioral Health) since 2010
- Adult Tobacco Survey (DHHS, Division of Public Health) since 2014
- Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (DHHS, Division of Public Health) since 2018
SHARING KNOWLEDGE THROUGH METHODOLOGICAL EXPERIMENTS
BOSR regularly conducts experiments on modes of data collection and methods for recruiting people into web surveys, analyzes data related to interviewers, and does other methodological work to improve the quality of data for our clients and contribute to the science of surveys.
Over the last year, BOSR staff presented research at the annual meetings of the American Association for Public Opinion Research and the Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research.
In addition to sharing data from experiments, BOSR also launched the Nebraska Snapshot series — a topical look at Nebraskan perspectives from gold-standard survey research.
The reports, released every other month, share data from the most recent Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey, a yearly survey of Nebraskans conducted by BOSR. Historical data may be included,
too, when necessary to the topic. The annual survey is used by researchers, state entities and policymakers, but also includes a core questionnaire that delves into demographics, quality of life measures, educational attainment and community satisfaction, among other variables. These core questions will inform most of the Nebraska Snapshot series.
The Nebraska Snapshots highlight what Nebraskans think, feel and do. We hope the general public, researchers, and policymakers will find it useful. All Nebraska Snapshots can be found on BOSR’s website.
