UK Survey Research Center Director Honored by National Research Association
LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 4, 2016) — Ronald Langley, director of the University of Kentucky’s Survey Research Center, has been named the 2016 recipient of the John M. Kennedy Achievement Award given by the Association of Academic Survey Research Organizations (AASRO) for his service and leadership to academic survey research.
Langley has successfully led the Survey Research Center, part of the UK Office of the Vice President for Research, for several decades and has served as director there since 1998. At Kentucky, he has been principal investigator for over 100 survey projects. His professional accomplishments additionally include a variety of peer-reviewed academic papers and book chapters that investigate the relationship between public opinion and public policy, particularly macroeconomic and health policy.
As a leader in the field of research ethics, Langley serves on the University of Kentucky’s nonmedical Institutional Review Board, tasked with overseeing the ethical conduct of research at the institution. He was elected and currently serves as the Standards Chair of the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR), where he has worked to raise members' awareness of the importance of respect for the rights of research subjects and its importance to the integrity and reputation of the profession. Langley is also a leader in the Midwest Association for Public Opinion Research (MAPOR), where he currently serves on the Executive Council.
As a founding member of AASRO, Langley has been involved since its initial meeting, serving the organization in many capacities. He was part of the steering committee that drafted AASRO’s bylaws and served as first vice president in 2008, following as president of the organization in 2009, and past president in 2010.
“Ron has been attentive to the wider policy environment that affects university-based survey researchers. While president, he wrote a memo to OMB (White House Office of Management and Budget) related to the Paperwork Reduction Act, and quickly responded to errors in a PRIM&R (Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research) training for IRB (Institutional Research Board) committee members that suggested multiple recruitment attempts of respondents were not allowed,” said Martha Van Haitsma, co-director of the University of Chicago Survey Lab. “He has been our organizational representative at national Consortium of Social Science Associations (COSSA) most years, traveling on his own time and reporting back.”
AASRO is dedicated to supporting and promoting excellence in survey research conducted in academic settings. The membership is made up of more than 60 academic survey research organizations from across the country. For more information, visit www.aasro.org.
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