Steve Coombs

Director of Field Operations

Steve Coombs is the Director of Field Operations at the University of Wisconsin Survey Center. He oversees the UWSC telephone interviewing facilities, the Tracing and Locating department, the Mail and Data Entry department, the Coding department, and the Hiring and Staffing office. The Center has 70 CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing) stations with 16 additional multi-purpose stations usable either for telephone interviewing or other aspects of field operations. Steve is responsible for over 200 supervisor, shift leader, interviewer, tracing, mail, coding, data entry and staffing employees.

Coombs has a bachelor's degree in english from the University of Illinois, and over twelve years of experience in survey research. He has broad survey research experience in both project and personnel management, including training, forecasting and tracking study progress, cost proposals, budget management, and acting as consultant to clients and senior staff. Prior to joining the UWSC in 2001 he served as Director of Field Services for Frank N. Magid Associates, a 190 CATI station center spread between seven offices. He also worked as Project Manager for Fleischman Field Research in San Francisco, assisting with questionnaire design, report writing, and managed a staff that specialized in Asian language interviewing. Coombs honed his supervisory skills and gained project management training at the University of Wisconsin-Extension Survey Research Laboratory.

Phone: (608) 262-5603

Email: scoombs@ssc.wisc.edu

Robert Breen

Tracing and Locating Supervisor

Bob Breen is the supervisor of UWSC Tracing and Locating department. He joined the center as a telephone interviewer in 1996. He has also worked as a CAPI interviewer, CATI Shift Leader, and behavior coder. Beginning in 1999, he assumed the full-time supervisory position that he now holds. Prior to joining the UWSC staff, Bob worked for several years in telephone sales and market research. He has a bachelor's degree in communication arts from UW-Madison. He has also worked as a writer and journalist.

Phone: (608) 262-1883

Email: rbreen@ssc.wisc.edu

Crystal Buttles

Mail and Data Entry Supervisor

Crystal Buttles serves as a coordinator between project directors and field staff to ensure that UWSC mailing and data entry protocols adhere to the highest scientific standards, as well as the needs and expectations of our clients. She manages the sending and receipt of, on average, 12,000 items per month, consisting largely of self-administered questionnaires, participation incentives, and advance letters for CATI projects. Crystal is responsible for orchestration and oversight of production, supply ordering and inventory, staff scheduling and training, as well as quality control and progress reporting for all mail and data entry projects.

She completed her undergraduate education in 2005 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She achieved a B.A. in sociology and a certificate in integrated liberal studies (ILS). Augmenting her sociology degree, she also completed the concentration in analysis and research (CAR) program, which provided experience with quantitative methods and statistical analysis in an applied social-research setting. Her graduate work consists of a certificate in Geographic Information Systems (GIS); a program geared for conducting spatial-analysis.

Crystal joined the UWSC as a CATI interviewer in February of 2003. She was promoted to shift leader in July of 2004, and held a USA-1 Project-Classified position from August 2007 to March 2008.

Phone: (608) 261-1089

Email: cbuttles@ssc.wisc.edu

Michael Chronister

Survey Research Supervisor

Michael is responsible for hiring and training new interviewers as well as monitoring progress and data quality of all studies. Michael came to the UWSC in May of 2002 and has held many positions. Recently he worked as the Progress and Quality Control Specialist for the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS) from August 2004 to January 2006. His main duties included monitoring the phone room progress of the WLS to ensure the highest quality of data collection, coordinating and facilitating ongoing training for interviewers on the WLS and providing feedback about the study to interviewers, clients, and other supervisory staff. Michael has a graduate certificate in geographic information systems and a Bachelor of Arts degree in geography both from UW-Madison.

Phone: (608) 263-3820 or (608) 262-1509

Email: mchronis@ssc.wisc.edu

Joe Degnitz

Survey Research Supervisor

Joe has been working in survey research since 1998. He joined the UWSC in early 2000 and became a CATI supervisor that October. Between 2000 and 2005 he was involved in the hiring, training, supervising and scheduling of interviewers. Since 2006 he has been particularly involved in scheduling and managing student interviewer payroll. Joe has a master's degree in history from Northern Illinois University and completed his undergraduate work at Northern Michigan University.

Phone: (608) 265-2680

Email: jdegnitz@ssc.wisc.edu

Tara Piché

Survey Research Supervisor

Tara Piche is part of the CATI supervisory team that ensures high quality data collection by coordinating phone room activity and monitoring the progress of studies in the field. Tara is primarily responsible for managing Shift Leader scheduling, giving performance feedback, and tracking interviewer monitoring.

Tara started at the UWSC as an interviewer in 2003. In 2004, she was promoted to Shift Leader and began to work full-time in 2006. Tara has a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and legal studies from UW-Madison and was excited to accept the Survey Research Supervisor position in December, 2007.

Phone: (608) 890-0112

Email: tpiche@ssc.wisc.edu

Erin Stegeman

Mail and Data Entry Lead Worker

Erin Stegeman is the Lead Worker in the Mail and Data Entry Department at the UW Survey Center. She is responsible for the intake of returned self-administered questionnaires and other mail survey correspondence. She maintains all mailing databases, organizes and leads the assembly of mailings, and monitors the quality and accuracy of data entry. Erin started as an interviewer with the UWSC in the spring of 2006, and was promoted to Shift Leader that winter. She accepted the Lead Worker position in the Mail and Data Entry Department in August 2007.

Email:estegema@ssc.wisc.edu

Shift Leaders at work

The University of Wisconsin Survey Center retains a highly trained and professional interviewing staff. Before hiring an interviewer the UWSC conducts a personal interview, thoroughly checks the candidate's references, performs a mock interview, and administers a typing competency test. Only those who perform well in all areas are considered for the interviewing position. Besides a multi-day training period immediately after hiring, all interviewers attend study-specific briefings before a new project begins to ensure the interviewer is well prepared to deal with issues and answer questions from respondents pertaining to the study when they call. Interviewers are also monitored monthly by a Shift Leader to ensure high quality data collection.

Shift Leaders are generally promoted from the current interviewing staff and represent the best skills in communication, supervision,interviewing, instructing, and motivating. Shift leaders are responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Survey Center as well as maintaining a highly positive and professional work environment.

Shift Leaders

Allison Fasching : afaschin@ssc.wisc.edu
Chris Frey : cfrey@ssc.wisc.edu
Jane Gomez : jgomez@ssc.wisc.edu
Kyle Krueger : kkrueger@ssc.wisc.edu
Jackie Le : jalef@ssc.wisc.edu
Garrett Wartenweiler : gwartenw@ssc.wisc.edu
Michelle Werner : mwerner@ssc.wisc.edu