Steve Cohen, SRMS Chair
The year has gone by fast as your section chair. As I look back, the highlight has to be the JSM program that Paul Beatty put together from all the contributions submitted by section members. The Survey Research Methods Section (SRMS) sponsored or cosponsored eight invited sessions, 22 topic-contributed sessions, and 29 contributed sessions. Mike Larsen, program chair for the 2012 meetings in San Diego, California, organized four SRMS-sponsored roundtables, three of which sold out. Our poster competition was a success, with 12 posters. The judges, after much debate, picked three as winners. Congratulations to all! To foster interest in our field, we also sponsor student travel awards to JSM. This year, we had four winners, with a tie for third place.
Our business meeting, sponsored by Marketing Systems Group, was well attended. As the formal mechanism for us to interact and share what is happening, including upcoming conferences, it is also your opportunity to give the board feedback on how the section can best meet your needs. Of course, board members are anxious for feedback all the time. At the business meeting, we acknowledged the four students who won a travel award to help defray expenses to JSM. Jill Dever, our treasurer, coordinates this effort. We also mentioned the student paper winners we support in conjunction with the Government Statistics and Social Statistics sections.
As we reflect on 2011, we are already planning for San Diego next summer. It isn’t too late to propose a topic-contributed session or submit a contributed paper. Audience feedback is always lively and informative to both the audience and the authors. You also might consider attending the International Conference on Establishment Surveys, to be held in Montréal, Québec, Canada, next June.
Another major SRMS effort is running the webinar series. There is no limit to the number of participants at one location, making this program cost effective. Throughout the spring, SRMS webinars covered reconsidering mail survey methods and an introduction to sampling for nonstatisticians. Our education officer, Marilyn Seastrom, has lined up four webinar possibilities for 2012. Stay tuned for details.
John Finamore, our publications officer, has ensured we communicate to SRMS members and the ASA with articles in Amstat News. Although not elected positions, newsletter editors Steve Pedlow and Ting Yan send out the SRMS newsletter twice a year electronically.
Past chair, Howard Hogan, has successfully led the new SRMS mentoring program. Feedback from the participants has been positive.
Rachel Harter and Tony An, our Council of Section officers, keep us abreast of ASA issues. The major items they reported on are the proposal to establish a new section and the Council of Sections’ plan to conduct a biennial review of the invited session formula used for session allocation. Emily McFarlane, as our secretary, keeps track of our discussions and is able to monitor what each of us promises to do. From my personal perspective, this is important for keeping me focused on meeting my promises.
What makes the section run smoothly is the enthusiasm and effort all the executive board members put into the section. It makes the chair’s job easy and makes the chair look good. I want to acknowledge the work of executive board members who will rotate off in December: Hogan, Beatty, Harter, and McFarlane. Thanks for a job well done.
John Czajka led the effort to nominate candidates for the SRMS executive board. From his efforts, Jill Montaquila, Rebecca Andridge, Chris Moriarity, and Frauke Kreuter will replace the outgoing board members and assume board responsibility in January. I also would like to recognize Pushpal Mukhopadhyay as the SRMS online assistant editor who will replace An. An has held this responsibility for many years and will stay on the board as COS representative.
Again, thank you for the honor of letting me lead the section this past year. It has been awesome, and I look forward to seeing everybody next year in San Diego, if not before.
Leave a Reply