PULLMAN, Wash. – Data manager Nathan Palmer has won the national John Tarnai Memorial Scholarship for his commitment to learning about survey methods and producing quality survey data.
Named in memory of John Tarnai, former director of the Social & Economic Sciences Research Center at Washington State University, the award is given by the Association of Academic Survey Research Organizations (AASRO), where Tarnai served as president.
The annual award recognizes an early-career survey center employee committed to work quality, learning, advancing and disseminating knowledge, and advancing the goals of his or her survey organization.
Palmer is information systems coordinator and data manager for the WSU SESRC, where he started in 2012 after completing a master’s degree in statistics. He plans to pursue a Ph.D. in sociology.
He is consistently mindful of the specifications for each survey project, raises good questions about procedures and makes suggestions that promote and preserve data quality, said nominator Rose Krebill-Prather, assistant director of SESRC. The award committee said it was especially impressed with the speed at which Palmer immersed himself in survey project work and the energy with which he pursued additional training.
The award is intended to defray the cost of attending the annual meetings of the American Association for Public Opinion Research or the International Field Directors and Technology Conference.
AASRO membership is made up of over 50 academic survey research organizations from across the country. For more information, visit http://www.aasro.org.