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Rachel Caspar
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Rachel A. Caspar

Director, Program for Research in Survey Methodology

Rachel A. Caspar is a senior survey methodologist who joined RTI in 1988. She specializes in designing questionnaires and developing data collection procedures for surveys of sensitive topics. She also adapts complex material and concepts to be easily and consistently understood by survey participants of all ages, educational levels, and cultural backgrounds. Ms. Caspar’s methodological research is broad based, focusing on survey methods for capturing data on sensitive topics, methods for reducing item and unit nonresponse, questionnaire evaluation and testing, and designing and implementing computer-assisted survey data collection. She is proficient in all facets of cognitive laboratory and usability testing. Ms. Caspar regularly teaches courses on questionnaire design and cognitive laboratory testing methods.

Education

MA, Applied Social Research, The University of Michigan; BA (high honors), Sociology, Oberlin College.

Publications

Design and Analysis of Cognitive Interviews for Comparative Multinational Testing — Field Methods
Miller, K., Fitzgerald, R., Padilla, J.L., Willson, S., Widdop, S., Caspar, R., et al. (Nov 2011)
A preferred approach for the cognitive testing of translated materials: testing the source version as a basis for comparison — International Journal of Social Research Methodology
Goerman, P.L., & Caspar, R.A. (Oct 2010)
Sexual victimization in prisons and jails reported by inmates, 2008-09
Beck, A.J., Harrison, P.M., Berzofsky, M., Caspar, R., & Krebs, C. (Aug 2010)
Managing the cognitive pretesting of multilingual survey instruments: A case study of pretesting of the U.S. Census Bureau Bilingual Spanish/English Questionnaire
Harkness, J. (Eds), et al. (May 2010)
Audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (ACASI)
Lavrakas, P.J. (Ed.) (Jan 2008)
View all publications by Rachel A. Caspar

Expertise