ROCK HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA – Callers with Winthrop University’s Center for Public Opinion & Policy Research have added another poll to work on besides the Winthrop Poll.
Since February, the center has served as a remote call center to help with the New York Times/Siena polls, considered one of the top polls in the country.
Travis Brodbeck, associate director of data management of the Siena College Research Institute, said Winthrop started officially in February and will continue helping with its daily polling from Labor Day in September to Election Day in November.
That could be dozens of polls, perhaps more, depending on changes in the political/news cycle, Brodbeck said.
The partnership has its origins back to 2023 when Brodbeck and Winthrop Poll Assistant Director Leah McMillan met at the American Association for Public Opinion Research conference and agreed to collaborate. Siena compensates Winthrop based on overall production, with a majority of the revenue going to pay the student callers’ wages.
Winthrop telephone interviewers log into Siena’s survey software and make calls just like the telephone interviewers at Siena, and at other remote caller centers at Roanoke College and the University of North Florida.
“We chose Winthrop and the other partners because they are academically situated call centers,” Brodbeck said. “We feel that our students are excellent telephone interviewers and academic institutions understand the unique circumstances of being part of a college/university system. We hope this partnership will continue in perpetuity.”
McMillan said she was excited to find a network of academic survey research labs who support each other and is happy to have formed such a wonderful partnership with Siena. “This partnership provides an invaluable work opportunity for our students and allows them to constantly practice and improve their skills as telephone interviewers, which benefits their professional development and the quality of the surveys they work on, such as the Winthrop Poll and the New York Times/Siena Poll,” McMillan said.
Winthrop’s Center for Public Opinion & Policy Research works on the Winthrop Poll four times a year, as well as some additional contract work. It is a full-service survey research and data analysis entity, specializing in telephone and online surveys.
Its mission is threefold: research, service and teaching.
Founded in 2002 by Political Science Professor Scott Huffmon, the center is the research arm of the university’s Department of Political Science, Philosophy, Religion, & Legal Studies and provides students with real-world, experiential learning opportunities through work with the Winthrop Poll initiative. Students get to discover the nuances and practical realities of research in ways traditional classroom instruction cannot. The lab also serves as a research platform for university faculty members by providing facilities and expertise for survey-based research projects.
For more information, contact McMillan at mcmillanl@winthrop.edu.
