Joint Program in Survey Methodology at the University of Maryland

About the Program

Founded in 1993, the Joint Program in Survey Methodology is housed in The College of Behavioral and Social Sciences at the University of Maryland. To date, it has more than 270 graduates working in government agencies, academic settings, and private survey research firms. Its award-winning faculty is drawn from the University of Maryland, the University of Michigan, Westat and other organizations.

JPSM's mission is to educate the next generation of survey researchers, survey statisticians, and survey methodologists. To that end, we offer a Ph.D. program, an M.S. in survey methodology, an online M.P.S., and graduate certificate and citation programs. We also offer a program of short courses and a Summer Fellows program for undergraduates.

We have both full-time and part-time students, many of them drawn from local agencies (such as the Bureau of the Census, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the National Center for Health Statistics, the National Center for Education Statistics, the National Agricultural Statistical Service) and survey organizations (including Westat, RTI International, the Gallup Organization, and Mathematica). Many of our full-time students are placed in summer internships at these and other organizations.

The Future

It is no small matter to build an organization that is a collaboration of two educational institutions, one commercial organization, and faculty in several other locations, designed to serve thirteen large statistical agencies but also dozens of other agencies with statistical functions. Since its inception, JPSM has increased the quality of technical staff in the Federal Statistical System and is enriching the field of survey statistics and methodology itself. Our faculty has historically been in the vanguard of research in survey methodology and strives to continue that leadership into the future.