Our Mission
Outside Perspectives
Working with service providers from outside your team provides a number of benefits. Contracting with MERC means accessing our specialized training to take advantage of an external, objective observer with expertise in social science disciplines, such as sociology, educational psychology, anthropology, and survey methodology. MERC staff can offer perspectives that may not have been considered before. Often, our clients are embedded in their projects and passionate about what they do. That drive and expertise are very valuable but can result in both a lack of clarity to external audiences and missed impacts and outcomes. Results drawn from external analysis and evaluation can provide both actual and perceived impartiality.
Our Impact
Our History
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2005
Survey, Statistics, and Psychometrics Core Facility (SSP) is started with Nebraska Research Initiative funding.
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2015
SSP is renamed the Methodology and Evaluation Research Core Facility (MERC) and becomes part of the newly formed Social and Behavioral Sciences Research Consortium (SBSRC). Under this new structure, MERC is funded by the Nebraska Research Initiative for five years.
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2017
MERC becomes a fee-supported service center, with charge out rates. Prior to this, faculty and staff time were charged directly to the grants and contract as percentages of time.
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2019
SBSRC goes through an external review. MERC is noted as an area of strength for the campus, providing value and much-needed evaluation expertise.
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2015-2022
MERC was a unit under the Social and Behavioral Sciences Research Consortium (SBSRC). SBSRC was created to support and expand research in the social and behavioral sciences based on findings from the Social and Behavioral Sciences Research Initiative launched in 2012.
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2022
As a unit, MERC is moved within R&I with a concentrated focus on Methodology and Evaluation.