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Organizational and Personnel Studies

Westat conducts qualitative and quantitative investigations and consults with Federal agencies, state and local governments, major corporations, utility companies, and labor unions. Our work has focused on organizational assessment and effectiveness, change management, job analysis, test development and validation, performance appraisal, training, and systems evaluation.

  • To evaluate the effectiveness and impact of the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Westat has conducted several surveys of different types of populations, including a survey of all applicants to ATP for the 2000 and 2002 funding competitions and a survey of joint ventures that examined the impact of funding on the partnership venture. These surveys are important evaluation tools for performing the following:
  • Westat is currently developing a system to assist ATP/NIST in surveying organizations that received awards to conduct high-risk, innovative research either alone or as part of a joint venture with other organizations. We will assist in developing 10 to 15 surveys to gather information about the goals of the work funded by NIST, its commercial prospects, and its level of risk. The surveys will also assess revenue from the funded project and the degree of collaboration.
  • We are assisting the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in developing the Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) Provider Satisfaction Survey, which monitors Medicare providers and ensures patient safety. We are responsible for the evaluation design, design and development of the satisfaction questionnaire, and the sampling plan. Westat will also provide the QIOs with guidance for quality improvement and measure their performance.
  • Westat has been involved in the testing of the Proposed Log Option for the BLS Survey of Occupational Injuries and Illness. We then performed telephone followup of respondents and nonrespondents.
  • We have conducted a telephone survey of a national sample of more than 1,200 employers to assess the impact of family and medical leave policies on business for BLS. The study was particularly focused on employers' reports of the impact of the Family and Medical Leave Act. The Westat team wrote up the results for the Commission on Family Leave, a bipartisan task force commissioned by Congress to report on the impact of the law. The results were also presented during a 2-day workshop run by the National Academy of Sciences.
  • Our studies of Federal personnel include focus groups and mail surveys to elicit employee attitudes toward EPA's Personnel Management System, its internal communications processes, and cultural diversity issues.
  • Westat helped provide the Defense Manpower Data Center and its clients with scientific and technical services to assist in the planning, evaluation, and execution of surveys and programs on issues affecting military and civilian personnel. Surveys have included the 1999 Survey of Reserve Employer Characteristics, Opinions, Attitudes, and Behaviors, the 1999 Active Duty Surveys, the 2000 Reserve Component Surveys, and the 2000 Workplace & Gender Relations Survey. We have prepared the following:
  • Westat provided research support to the Congressional Commission on Military Training and Gender-Related Issues in its review of the military services' basic training policies on gender integration and their policies on cross-gender relationships among military personnel.
  • We conduct employee opinion surveys, often on a recurring basis, for multinational companies with as many as 120,000 employees. This work has required the preparation of detailed statistical summaries for up to 800 work units within a corporation.

 

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