Tim Smith

Tim Smith directs the Program for Establishment-Based Research in RTI’s Survey Research Division.  His 30 years of experience designing and directing establishment surveys using qualitative and quantitative methods focuses on data collection among adult and juvenile corrections, community corrections, law enforcement, and education agencies. These studies describe agency characteristics, policies, and procedures; staff training, supervision, and conduct; and the background and behavior of staff and supervised populations. 

Mr. Smith currently leads the Annual Surveys of Probation and Parole and the Law Enforcement Core Statistics Program.  Previously, he directed the 2016 Survey of Prison Inmates, 2014 Census of Adult Probation Supervising Agencies, and multiple iterations of the National Survey of Youth in Custody.  Through these experiences, Mr. Smith has gained expertise in criminal justice-specific research issues, such as procedures for obtaining jurisdictional and human subjects research clearance, development of standardized and tailored survey instrumentation and data collection methods to ensure high data quality, and protocols for managing administrative records.

Mr. Smith is a member of the American Association for Public Opinion Research and the American Correctional Association.