From national surveys on what people think about Muslim Americans' civil liberties to stem cell research and even local parking issues, the Survey Research Institute (SRI) at Cornell makes the call or visit and asks the questions.

That kind of research is the flesh and blood of the social sciences, and SRI is now better positioned than ever to provide vital social science survey research services across the entire university -- and beyond.

Staff will mark the institute's 10th anniversary with an open house Friday, Nov. 3, from 4 to 6 p.m. at their new offices at 391 Pine Tree Road. The event will be co-hosted by the Cornell Institute for Social and Economic Research (CISER), which shares the building.

SRI, formerly a unit of the School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR), now reports directly to the office of David Harris, vice provost for social sciences and the Robert S. Harrison executive director of Cornell's Institute for the Social Sciences.

"The move is part of a larger universitywide initiative to strengthen the social sciences infrastructure at Cornell," said Harris. "One of the goals of this move is to deepen SRI's support of the burgeoning survey needs in the social sciences as well as other areas."

Founded in 1996 as the Computer Assisted Survey Team, the institute has grown from a staff of two part-time employees and three survey stations to a unit with six full-time staff members and approximately 50 student researchers working in a suite of 17 computer stations.

SRI staff members work with faculty and other researchers from across campus and maintain long-standing relationships with researchers from the Smithers Institute in New York City, the ILR Employment and Disability Institute, Cornell Cooperative Extension and the Departments of Policy Analysis and Management, Communication, Development Sociology and Natural Resources.

"Over the past decade, SRI has conducted all of the major survey research activities for our federally funded aging research center," said Karl Pillemer, professor of human development and co-director of the Cornell Institute for Translational Research on Aging. "I can honestly say that some of the success of the center is due to their careful work, often conducted under tight deadlines and in a very cost-efficient way."

SRI also supports the Cornell administration's data collection efforts for planning, program evaluation, curriculum development and human resources management.

"At any one time, the survey center is handling 40 different survey projects across all our modes of data collection -- telephone, Web, mail and face-to-face," said Yasamin Miller, SRI director, noting that SRI is often cited in state and national media.

She added that the institute facilitates research in three significant ways: first, by "providing an at-cost method by which Cornell researchers may collect survey data with high-quality assurance, especially since Cornell researchers have direct access to the facility and institute."

Secondly, she said, SRI actively works with Cornell researchers on grant proposals to secure external funding and in some cases actually "prepares and writes the methodological sections of the proposal or grant." Finally, for the past four years SRI has provided an omnibus service through New York's Empire State Poll "on which researchers can pose survey questions, for a very low cost, to a large sample -- 800 respondents -- statewide." The omnibus service allows researchers "to further their own research agendas, test basic hypotheses or research questions, develop question wording design or use the omnibus data to secure additional funding sources and grants for a larger research design or project," Miller said.

SRI runs seven days a week year-round except for university holidays. The center is open 9 a.m-9 p.m., Monday-Thursday; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. on Fridays; 10 a.m.-6 p.m. on Saturday; and 1-9 p.m., Sundays. For more information visit the SRI Web site http://www.sri.cornell.edu/sri/.