Kennedy's STR Merges with Methodology Advocate SSRS

US full service survey researcher SSRS and data collection specialist STR (Survey Technology & Research) have announced a merger under the SSRS brand.

SSRS itself began life as the Social Science Research Group at survey company ICR, and was set up to care for academic and policymaker institutions looking for methodological rigor. It became independent, 'though with close ties to ICR, and eighteen months ago the two were reunited under the SSRS name. The firm's flagship product is the SSRS Omnibus, a national, weekly, dual-frame bilingual telephone survey used by major news publications and networks; while the company is also a charter member of AAPOR's Transparency Initiative, which encourages greater methodological disclosure by all research organisations.

STR provides b2b and b2c data collection, with a focus on multimodal methodologies and large-scope projects, and the merger will add 'a robust suite of technology advantages' to SSRS' team of social scientists. STR Founder and President Gregg Kennedy, who spent twenty years at Chilton Research Services and then ten as VP of Business Development at Marketing Systems Group, will take the role of Chief Strategic Operations Officer in the merged company, and will continue to lead his research and technology team from its base in Allentown, PA.

SSRS President Melissa Herrmann (pictured) says the merger is 'a huge step forward' for the company. She comments: 'Using the latest technology we can now dive even deeper into specific research areas on behalf of our clients. Our goal has always been, and continues to be, to offer our clients the highest data quality while keeping our methods as personalized as possible. With this next step we'll be able to do more of exactly that'.

Web sites are at www.ssrs.com and www.strcenter.com .