All BRI projects are centrally monitored and managed to ensure even workloads and quality control. All of our assignments receive the personal attention and involvement of the firm's senior professional staff. Some of our research capabilities and experience are described below.

Customized Study Design – BRI has designed studies (experimental and non-experimental) on customer satisfaction/loyalty/retention, corporate image, consumer behavior, employee productivity, organizational performance, and the impact of government programs and projects. Combining both subject area expertise with an extensive knowledge of research methodologies, we use a wide array of data collection methods and strategies. While all of our projects contain some type of research design or framework, some are unique given the need to draw formal conclusions related to established research hypotheses. BRI has conducted both experimental and quasi-experimental research projects - often related to social and educational program interventions.

Sample Design - Our statistical and research capabilities have been our foundation throughout our history. Whether it be a random-digit dialing sample for a national phone survey, a sample for a mail survey drawn from an internal customer database, or a random sample of visitors to a web site, our statisticians are heavily involved in developing efficient sampling and estimation procedures for all of our clients' research projects.

Web Surveys - Surveys conducted via the Internet and/or e-mail are cost-effective and efficient at collecting self-report information from respondents in certain situations. Our research and programming staff are skilled at both designing and developing user-friendly questionnaires for administration over the Internet. Using state-of-the-art, interactive reporting systems, projects are carefully managed for consistent quality.

Pocket PC / Palm Pilot Surveys - Surveys conducted using a Pocket PC and/or Palm Pilot technology are cost-effective and efficient at conducting face-to-face interviews with respondents in exit interviews and mall-intercepts. A Pocket PC approach to data collection improves interviewer productivity, the integrity of data management activities, and effectively eliminates the awkwardness of using paper questionnaires and clipboards. Responses to the survey are uniformly collected throughout the day and then uploaded at the end of the day to our primary server systems. Using state-of-the-art, interactive reporting systems, projects are carefully managed for consistent quality.

Mail Surveys - Mail surveys are a cost-effective means of collecting self-report information from respondents. Our research associates are skilled at designing questionnaires that draw high quality information from respondents while minimizing respondent burden and maximizing response rates at the same time. Mail surveys also require careful attention to sample organization and stratification, mail handling and tracking procedures, and follow-up processes. We have had extensive experience in performing all of these tasks efficiently and effectively. Throughout our history, we have developed surveys in over a dozen languages including Braille.

Telephone Surveys - Phone surveys can be a highly effective means of eliciting in-depth information from respondents. Using phone facilities with complete computer assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) capabilities, state-of-the-art automatic dialing, and silent monitoring equipment, BRI projects are carefully managed for consistent quality. We have conducted large-scale telephone surveys on topics that have included plans for expanding NBA and NFL sports stadiums, the market share of high-tech medical products, and the effectiveness of innovative counseling strategies.

Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Surveys – With IVR surveys, your customers and employees can be interviewed simply by dialing a toll-free number. All respondents hear the same upbeat voice asking interview questions consistently without interviewer bias. An IVR survey can also be designed to allow customers to interrupt their interview and speak with someone about their concerns. In addition to receiving transcribed feedback from customers, you have the option of listening to actual recorded comments, stored in a database. Incentives can also be offered as rewards for completed interviews.

In-Person Interviewing - Our interviewing expertise has been used in a number of international in-person studies. While our interviewers, on some studies, have used laptop PC's for interviewing purposes, our in-person interviewing methods are specifically tailored to the management needs of each study.

Focus Groups - Focus groups are used to collect data from respondents in qualitative studies, refine the content of questionnaires, and identify messages/appeals for public information campaigns. Our facilities are supplemented by a worldwide network of moderators and facilities to accommodate client needs on a global level. Our staff are adept at helping clients define target audiences, and we can help you develop audience profiles and accompanying screening questions and procedures to yield the right mix of participants. Working with our network of contacts as well as through traditional methods (e.g., random digit dial telephone calls), we can recruit participants to meet specific client needs. Our professionally trained, in-house moderators and network of independent moderators have worked closely with us in the past. This pool of moderators allows us to match moderator characteristics with specific focus group requirements. Our moderators have conducted extensive numbers of focus groups across a wide array of subject matters, settings, and languages.

Online Focus Groups - Online focus group technologies represent a new industry standard, providing a series of advanced features that dramatically exceed the more traditional chat-based technologies used for many online focus groups. Online focus groups can produce meaningful responses without the demands of more traditional qualitative research. With online focus groups, geographically dispersed participants are simultaneously researched in a dynamic "virtual room" environment. Participants contribute to a "pooled" conversation, responding to questions submitted by a moderator. An online setting also provides the opportunity for respondents to offer more direct and reflective feedback without the embarrassment that can result from sitting with strangers in a physical location.

Data Processing - Our data handling and processing capabilities are the core of our operations. All facets of data processing are handled in-house on our own computer systems. Data processing specialists, experienced in both micro and mainframe computers, are dedicated to ensuring the integrity and quality of data throughout the project. Our facilities are fully equipped for data entry, OMR/OCR scanning, question coding and editing, content analysis, tabulations, database management, mail handling services, and high speed Internet communications.

Statistical Analysis - Our researchers use a wide variety of statistical methods to analyze data. Some of the many different methodologies and techniques we use include:

• Analysis of Variance/Multiple Regression - methods used to identify the relative importance of and underlying relationships of variables; linear models include ANOVA, ANCOVA, discriminant analysis, and multivariate regression including probit and logit models.
• Factor Analysis - techniques used to identify common themes or groupings of items in a questionnaire, evaluate/refine survey questions, and develop scales.
• Conjoint or Trade-Off Analysis - methods used to identify the relative importance of attributes and/or to segment/estimate the size of markets.
• Cost-Benefit and Cost-Effectiveness Analysis - techniques used to assess the cost of producing a specific level of quality service, handling errors, and producing specific outcomes.
• Structural Equation Modeling - analytic procedures used to test the relationship among variables in a model such as in the case of customer satisfaction, loyalty, and retention.

International Research - We have conducted an extensive amount of national and international surveys projects which have involved the joint cooperation of groups worldwide, e.g., coordinating airline passenger survey distribution procedures simultaneously at airports throughout the world; conducting a phone survey in a dozen countries and languages; or working with a project consultant from the United Kingdom as a part of project conducted in the United States. Some of these projects have involved the distribution of data and communications systems worldwide and others have involved working with specialists for a given project. All of our projects are centrally monitored and managed to ensure even workloads and quality control.

Security Clearances, Confidential Use of Private and Government Data - Many of our projects require the use of private and/or sensitive information obtained from confidential government and business databases. Bosma Research International has also been certified at the Enhanced Reliability security clearance level with the Public Works and Government Services Canada, a designation which indicates our organization has been approved to possess or safeguard designated or classified information/assets.

Program Evaluation - As government agencies and businesses have become more concerned about the effectiveness of their programs and policies, the importance of conducting formal program evaluation (process and product, and impact) has steadily increased. Often using a variety of qualitative and quantitative research methods with multiple sources of information, BRI has been a leader in developing new measures of impact and process effectiveness in human service, human resource, organizational performance, and educational settings.

On-Site Handling and Storage Procedures - The bulk of our operations are self-contained and/or conducted in-house using our own systems, and public access to our facilities is very limited - public access is not permitted access to our computer and production facilities. Company and client materials and documents are restricted to the on-site premises and staff members, as a general rule, are not allowed to take project materials/documents home with them. Project materials and documents (e.g., mail survey materials, project reports, presentations, etc.) are maintained in a locked storage area when not being used. Upon completion of a project, all materials and documents pertaining to the project are then destroyed (shredded in-house) and disposed of accordingly. Back-up electronic files (e.g., on diskette, CD Rom, and/or magnetic tape) are maintained for a period of seven years in a secure, off-site facility under lock and key.

Computer Security Systems and Procedures - Our production facilities are located in a single centralized facility. Bosma Research International has a state-of-the-art, secure full enterprise Windows NT central computing system linking all of our facilities as well as our associates together into a single system. Our computer center operates 24 hours a day and currently houses a variety of computers and peripherals which enable us to respond easily to the data processing and communications requirements of a variety of projects. All facets of mail handling, survey administration, data processing (data entry, scanning, coding), data management, statistical analysis, and desktop publishing are handled in-house on our own computer systems. With all of our production systems and resources located in a single facility, monitoring the security of our operations is quite straightforward.