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Public Policy Research Institute at Texas A&M University: Additional Services
Government Policy
The Public Policy Research Institute is an important capacity builder in the area of public policy research. The Institute provides a variety of services to policymakers and to faculty and students at Texas A&M University. These services include the following:
Public Opinion Research
The Public Policy Research Institute conducted The Texas Poll, a quarterly survey of citizen attitudes on currently prominent issues, which has been of service to both public and private sector organizations affecting the state and nation. Funding sources for specific state-wide polls have included the Texas Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Authority, State Comptroller of Public Accounts, Texas Bankers Association, KHOU-TV (Channel 11 Houston), and First City Bank Corporation. PPRI annually tracks and interviews a sample of approximately 30,000 Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) graduates for the Texas Welfare Development Commission. Policy Analysis
As a university locus for the discussion of public policy issues, PPRI is frequently requested to produce investigative reports on socially relevant topics. Such studies often call for assessments of public opinion or for surveys of elites involved in the policy process. Policy studies have covered such topics as: public health, economic development, natural resources, criminal justice, primary elections, and senior citizens. PPRI has also produced studies for the Texas House and Senate committees on topics ranging from prison overcrowding to home child care policies. Program Evaluation Research
To increase the effectiveness and efficiency of social programs, PPRI conducts research on the outcomes of human service programs. With respect to survey and telephone interview strategies, this emphasis is apparent in the annual interviews of approximately 30,000 Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) participants for the Texas Department of Commerce. The Institute is also currently under contract with the Texas Employment Commission to conduct an evaluation of its job placement program, which serves over 15,000 ex-offenders released from the Texas Department of Corrections each year. Database Management
The data archive established by PPRI allows state agencies to deposit computerized records. PPRI maintains these records and makes them available to policy researchers for secondary analysis. PPRI is especially interested in archiving public health, criminal justice, and state election data, as well as data on municipal Texas governments. This database management program has enabled the compilation of all Texas statewide and legislative election returns collected since 1884. PPRI has recently completed a major project for the Joint Legislative Committee on Workers' Compensation that entailed cleaning the last 10 years of archival data on claims filed (approximately 1.7 million records), creating several subsamples for different analytical tasks, augmenting the original system file with additional data gathered from archival paper files and claimant and insurance carrier surveys conducted by PPRI staff, then merging, cleaning and manipulating the database to answer the policy questions raised by the committee and the Texas Legislature. Instructional Services
In addition to research services, the Public Policy Research Institute provides the following instructional services to policymakers and to faculty and students of Texas A&M University:
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