Staff

Laura R. Appelbaum, Senior Research Associate

The Centers
University of Colorado Denver
Campus Box 133 - P.O. Box 173364
Denver, CO 80217-3364
Phone: (303) 315 - 2495
Fax: (303) 315 - 2497
E-mail: laura.appelbaum@cudenver.edu

Bio: Laura R. Appelbaum, PhD, is the Senior Research Associate at the Centers at the University of Colorado Denver, and technical advisor to the Wells Fargo Public Policy Research Program. She is responsible for the design, management and implementation of research projects and program evaluations. She is an expert in research methodology and statistical analysis, and has over 30 years of experience as a researcher and analyst.

Dr. Appelbaum has directed a number of large-scale, multi-year research projects. She has performed statistical analyses on large and complex data bases including U.S. Census data and administrative data for the Colorado State Department of Human Services. She has designed and directed program evaluations involving extensive data collection, data management and statistical analysis. She also has successfully completed projects using qualitative methods such as focus groups and in-depth interviews, either alone or to supplement quantitative research.

For three and a half years, as part of the team managing and implementing the Indian Housing Block Grant (IHBG) program for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, she worked with Indian tribes, helping them successfully challenge U.S. Census data and increase their Needs funding under the IHBG formula. This entailed developing a rigorous methodology for identifying and sampling tribal households and collecting data to accurately enumerate low-income households and their household characteristics. She worked with tribes to determine the number of housing units that were eligible for IHBG funding. In addition, she assisted tribes that were considering making changes to their Formula Area. This experience enhanced her knowledge of the legal and political context within which Indian country operates, and of the complex social and economic issues facing tribes. She has the skills to help tribes identify needs; develop, implement and evaluate programs; and generally to help tribes improve the social, educational and economic conditions of tribal members.

Dr. Appelbaum has considerable experience conducting member and client satisfaction surveys for public sector organizations. She recently completed a readership survey for Public Administration Review, a leading public administration journal. She also has conducted a number of client satisfaction surveys for accounting and law firms that identified client needs, evaluated service delivery and assessed satisfaction. She conducted a national survey of state legislators and legislative staffers for the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) to determine the effectiveness of Kids Count, and assessed faculty and staff satisfaction with the University of Colorado's newspaper, the Silver and Gold Record

Dr. Appelbaum's substantive interests and expertise include education, housing, and social and economic issues facing vulnerable populations. She has done a great deal of research in the area of education. She has worked with a number of school districts in Colorado. She directed surveys for school districts including Boulder Valley, Greeley-Evans, Jefferson County, St. Vrain Valley and Green Valley Ranch/Montbello. In addition, she evaluated educational programs at both the early childhood and kindergarten-12 levels. In the last few years, she has played a major role in collecting and analyzing Denver metropolitan-area and statewide homeless data. In the past, she was part of a team that assessed the employment barriers facing Colorado welfare recipients, and, previously, that determined program outcomes as part of a multi-year evaluation of a Colorado Department of Human Services welfare reform program. She evaluated the Old Age Pension Program for the Colorado State Legislature.

In her 20 + years with the Centers, Dr. Appelbaum has been responsible for:

• Directing all phases of survey research: sampling, questionnaire design, interviewer training, data collection, statistical analysis, interpretation of research results, and report preparation
  • Designing customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction and organizational morale surveys
  • Conducting public opinion research
  • Developing needs assessments
• Conducting program evaluations to inform public policy and improve program design: developing and implementing tracking systems, measuring performance with output and outcome indicators, and performing cost benefit analyses
• Designing user friendly instruments and writing clear directions for consumers and interviewers
• Managing computer analyses
• Serving as statistical director of the Wells Fargo Public Opinion Research Center
  • Helping produce the Mind of Colorado, an annual statewide survey examining public policy issues and analyzing trends in the thinking of Colorado citizens
  • Conducting public opinion research on issues such as education, growth, parks and recreation, health policy and gun control
• Providing technical assistance and training in research design, sampling, data collection, statistical analysis, and performance measurement
• Designing and implementing qualitative research strategies including focus groups and interviews, and summarizing, analyzing and presenting qualitative results
• Producing clear, concise written reports with recommendations, and presenting and explaining results
• Training and teaching in research methodology, sampling and data analysis.

Education

• PhD Mathematical Sociology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1980
  Specialization in research methodology, measurement and statistics
• MA Mathematical Sociology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1974
• BA Sociology, State University of New York at Stony Brook, 1970