Research Operations Center

The core of RTI International’s survey work runs through the Research Operations Center. Located in Raleigh, North Carolina, the ROC is an access-controlled facility using state-of-the-art systems and best-in-class data collection protocols to support our extensive portfolio of surveys.

The ROC houses the staff and infrastructure for telephone (onsite and virtual call center), field (in-person), mail, web and multi-mode surveys. The approximately 450 specialists and 60 supervisors in Raleigh are complemented by a nationally distributed home-based interviewer workforce of approximately 1,800.  Each year, the ROC supports more than 50 projects, handles more than 5 million phone calls, processes 1.5 million pieces of mail, scans 1 million pages of questionnaires and other documents, and abstracts more than 100,000 administrative records.

Federal agencies, commercial clients, and foundations seek out RTI for its expertise in survey science, and that level of rigor extends to the ROC. Our staff members are experienced and highly trained in processes for interviewing, quality monitoring, respondent locating, sample mapping, data capture, and fulfillment. Survey methods and technologies we use at the ROC include:

• Inbound/outbound Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI)
• Multilingual capabilities; interviews primarily conducted in English and Spanish with other languages available
• Comprehensive training including critical skills such as gaining cooperation, data integrity, and questionnaire navigation
• Real-time and post-survey quality monitoring, reporting and coaching
• Robust, real-time project performance reporting
• Tracing hard-to-reach respondents from longitudinal surveys
• Live help desk support with automated ticketing/routing solutions
• Automated map production for large-scale area household surveys
• Secure records abstraction and storage for collecting data from course catalogues, school transcripts, health records, billing invoices, and other administrative records
• Efficient processes for inbound and outbound mail surveys of individuals, households, and businesses in the United States and other countries
• Monetary and non-monetary respondent incentive administration and distribution
• Data capture systems for faster analysis, validated for CFR Part 11 regulated studies

The center complies with the confidentiality and data security guidelines set forth by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Recommended Security Controls for Federal Information Systems and Organizations. We can accommodate both low- and moderate-risk projects, as defined by NIST’s Federal Information Processing Standards Publication 199, Standards for Security Categorization of Federal Information and Information Systems.