The Center for Social and Behavioral Research (CSBR) is a freestanding unit within the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Northern Iowa. Since its beginning in 1967, CSBR has conducted over 680 funded research studies on a wide variety of topics. Among these are public health, crime/safety, environment/energy, education, housing/planning, and public opinion/policy priorities.
Public health is the predominant area of research, including reproductive health, behavioral health risks, substance abuse, tobacco use, problem gambling, and maternal and child health. Most activities are of an applied research nature, designed to assist public agencies in answering questions about public opinion and the impacts of public programs.
CSBR has collected data from over 400,000 Iowans by telephone interviewing, face-to-face interviewing, mailed questionnaires, focus groups, and web surveys. Every year CSBR provides direct research training and experience for many UNI students.
Director's Message:
FY 2011 was a year of growth for CSBR. Our staff of faculty, professional scientific, merit, and student employees has collectively worked on nearly 50 individual research projects supported by multiple public and private sponsors. Projects have addressed questions of importance for both policy and practice across various fields of public health, biomedicine, ethics, crime and safety, and math and science education. Some projects were a continuation of research from prior years while others were investigations into new areas. Changes in public funding for state and federal agencies that occurred during the year caused alterations mid-stream in the budgets and scopes for a few projects. We responded to this challenge by increasing efficiency, expanding capabilities, and seeking new opportunities. The core of CSBR's mission is to apply high quality standards of applied social research to a wide variety of audiences in communities, statewide, and nationally. There is a seemingly unlimited need by scholars, practitioners, policy makers, and the public for unbiased and accurate findings to inform and guide them. The coming year will be focused on maintaining strong prior relationships, agressively pursuing new partnerships, mentoring student scholars, and continuing as one of UNI's leading centers of sponsored research, collaboration and contributions to society.
Gene M. Lutz, Professor & Director
Announcements
CSBR Research
Research in the news: Dr. Gene Lutz was quoted in an article by GamblingCompliance about the Internet Poker research conducted by CSBR.
CSBR gambling research featured in Newscan: The CSBR's Gambling Attitudes and Behaviors report is featured in the Responsible Cambling Council's weekly newsletter, Newscan (Volume 13, Issue 42).
Research in the news: Pieces on gambling prevalence research conducted by CSBR.
Iowa Department of Public Health news release.
KWWL NBC 7 piece on CSBR's gambling research.
New CSBR research on Gambling Attitudes and Behaviors Among Iowans: This Executive Summary and Full Report present findings from a 2011 survey of Iowans.
New CSBR research on Internet Poker: This Briefing Document and Full Report present a public health perspective on Internet poker.
Research in the news: Pieces on gambling prevalence research conducted by CSBR -
Chicago Tribune
KGAN CBS 2
KCRG ABC 9
Radio Iowa
Research in the news: KGAN Channel 2 (CBS) piece on UNI Internet poker research:
Research in the news: Two pieces in the Des Moines Register about CSBR research on Internet poker -
State report: Some Iowa gamblers will play poker online regardless of legislative action
Legal or not, Internet gambling may be here to stay, report says
Research in the news: Iowa Fiscal Partnership - CSBR survey of Iowa state park users.
Research presented March 28 at the European Conference on Tobacco or Health:
Impacts of comprehensive tobacco control programming in a rural Midwestern US state. View.
Research in the news: IDPH News piece - The Costs and Benefits of Gambling in Iowa.