SAES-422 Multistate Research Activity Accomplishments Report

Sections

Basic Information
Additional Info

Status: Approved

Basic Information

Project No. and Title: WERA1010 : Improving Data Quality from Sample Surveys to foster Agricultural and Community Development in Rural America
Period Covered: 02/21/2025 to 02/20/2026
Date of Report: 03/30/2026
Annual Meeting Dates: 02/19/2026 to 02/20/2026

Greta Linse, Montana State University, greta.linse@montana.edu Anil Kumar Chaudhary, The Pennsylvania State University, auk259@psu.edu Katie McLaughlin, Oregon State University, katherine.mclaughlin@oregonstate.edu Zhengyuan Zhu, Iowa State University, zhuz@iastate.edu Roshan Nayak, Virginia Tech, roshanayak@vt.edu Katie Dentzman, Michigan State University, dentzman@iastate.edu Joe Hollis, Iowa State University, hollisj@iastate.edu Tiffany Drape, Virginia Tech, tdrape@vt.edu

Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Attached file:

WERA-1010-Meeting-Notes-2026.docx

Accomplishments

Annual meeting, including report-outs on results of survey methodology experiments, consultation to make surveys more effective, and discussion of contemporary issues in the survey methodology space. Significant benefit to participants in terms of improved survey instruments for research on rural and agricultural topics.

Tiffany Drape

Teaching:

ALCE 5204: Evaluation of Extension and Outreach Programs (includes survey design units)

Publications:

Bagheri Hamaneh, A., Dayer, A. A., Drape, T. A., Chaves, W. A., (2025). Investigating pathways to environmental civic engagement for diverse communities. Journal of Environmental Management, (76)61. Doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-025-02356-2 (accepted in 2025)

Invited presentation:

Drape, T., Mulder, M. (2025). From service to seedlings: Arcadia’s Veteran Farmer Program. Veterans Employee Resource Group, Dairy Farmers of America (DFA). June 4, 2025. 18 participants.

Grants:

PI: Drape, T., A., Travis, E., & Mays, A., (10/1/25-9/30/26). A Long-Term Evaluation of the Promise Program Proposal. Wellspring Foundation.

Co-PI: Mulder, M., Hess, P., & Drape, T., (9/01/24-8/31/2027). Arcadia veteran farmer program. United States Department of Agriculture, Ag Veterans.

Co-PI: Altson, A., Terry, M., Yang, G., Ahmedna, M., Ng’ombe, J., Beasley, J., Sang, S., Faulker, P., Arayal, N., Bhomik, A., Mayo, L., Simpson, C., Coble, D., Quaicoe, O., Drape, T., & Nayak, R., (12/1/24-5/31/28)- Preparing and supporting students to enter the future food and ag workforce (SAPLINGS). United States Department of Agriculture.

Co-PI: Hamilton, A., Eifert, J., & Drape, T. A., (9/1/2023-8/31/2026). Equipping small processors to thrive in larger markets: A hybrid approach to support training efficacy. United States Department of Agriculture, Food Safety Outreach Program.

Anaka Aiyar

Last year I gave a talk on importance of survey design at UVM. - FS 6250: Research Design and Methodology (Graduate level food systems program phd class), I shared insights how to run impact evaluations using administrative and survey data and talked about the pitfalls of poor research design and low survey responses on external validity of estimates. I currently have two surveys in the field that are using some design ideas from WERA objectives

Zhengyuan Zhu

Grants:

PI, DOJ National Institute of Justice (Co-PI E. Berg K. Burgason), “FUSE: Fast Unbiased Small-area Estimation for Timely Measurement of Community Perceptions of Policing and Public Safety”. $499,562.00, 2025-2027.

PI, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (Co-PI: J. Kim, C. Yu, and E. Berg), Statistical and Survey Methods Support for the National Resources Inventory”. $7,750,000.00, 2023-2026.

PI, Iowa nutrient research and education council, “Statistical and survey methods support or the collection and analysis of the in-field agricultural practices data in Illinois crop reporting districts”, $15,000, 2024-2025.

PI, Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, “Iowa Youth Survey Administration”, $59,976, 2024-2025.

co-PI, Department of Interior Bureau of Land Management (PI: C. Yu), “Statistical and Survey Methods Support for the BLM-Managed Lands Survey Program”, $821,999.00, 2023-2028.

Papers:

Dae-Gyu Jang*, Cindy Yu, and Zhengyuan Zhu, ”Estimating Total Acres of Rangeland for Specific Geographies Using Cropland Data Layer (CDL)” (2025+), Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology, accepted for publication.

Zhonglei Wang*and Zhengyuan Zhu (2025+), ”Resampling Method for Generalized One-per-Stratum Sampling Designs.” Statistica Sinica, Accepted for publication. doi:10.5705/ss.202024.000

Sun, Hao*, Suraj Upadhaya, Chris Morris, J. Arbuckle, Laurie Nowatzke, and Zhengyuan Zhu (2025). ”The Flux of Agricultural Conservation: Understanding Changes in Iowa Farmers’ Adoption of Cover Crops and No-Till Over Time.” Society & Natural Resources (2025): 1-20.

Katie McLaughlin:

Teaching:

ST 539 Survey Methods (Winter 2025)

ST 531 Sampling Methods (Fall 2025)

Grants:

PI, Oregon State Marine Board Motorboat Fuel Use Survey. $99,739, 2025-2026.

PI, Oregon Department of Transportation Highway Quality Survey. $138,600, 2025-2030.

PI, Oregon Department of Transportation Needs and Issues Survey. $120,000, 2025-2026.

PI, Oregon Department of Transportation Commerce and Compliance Division Customer Service Satisfaction Survey. $38,799, 2025-2027.

PI, Oregon DMV Quarterly Customer Satisfaction Surveys. $45,300, 2025-2027.

PI, Yakima Fish Benefits Survey, USDI Bureau of Reclamation. $277,320, 2024-2027.

PI, Oregon Department of Energy Electric Vehicles Survey. $35,827, 2025.

co-PI, Marine Service Providers Survey (with PacWave, Oregon State University). $16,254, 2024-2025.

co-PI, Vole Impacts on Willamette Valley Agriculture Survey (with Dana Sanchez, Oregon State University). $18,200, 2024-2025.

co-PI, Central Israel-Gaza Initiative, Scholarly Events and Activities Survey (with Peter Betjemann, Oregon State University). $2,644, 2025.

Talks:

McLaughlin, K. “Using the directed seed method to survey Venezuelan refugee and migrants in Colombia,” Joint Statistical Meetings, Nashville, Tennessee, USA (August 2025)

McLaughlin, K. “Using the directed seed method for respondent-driven sampling to survey Venezuelan refugee and migrants in Colombia,” European Survey Research Association Conference, Utrecht, Netherlands (July 2025)

McLaughlin, K. “Using the directed seed method for respondent-driven sampling to survey Venezuelan refugee and migrants in Colombia,” American Association for Public Opinion Research Annual Conference, St. Louis, Missouri, USA (May 2025)

Jessica Schad

Talks:

“Tracking Utahns’ Views on Key Environmental Issues Using the Utah People and Environment Poll (UPEP).” Seminar for the Quinney College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Utah State University; Logan, UT.

“Tracking Utahns’ Views of Key Environmental Issues with the Utah People and Environment Poll.” Seminar for the Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Utah State University; Logan, UT.

Grants:

“Innovation & Community Engagement in Understanding & Addressing Environmental Issues in Utah” (PI), UAES Seed Grant, Utah State University ($79,631), 2025-2027

“The Utah People and Environment Poll: Training Undergraduate Students in Applied Survey Research” (PI), Faculty-Student Summer Mentorship Grants, Utah State University ($4,000), 2025

Pubs:

Bennett, Elizabeth, Jessica D. Ulrich-Schad, Sydney Fisk, & Emma Epperson. 2025. “Using a Modified Drop-off/Pick-Up Survey to Reduce Costs and Increase Response Rates.” Society & Natural Resources. https://doi.org/10.1080/08941920.2025.2547218

Impacts

This project provides direct feedback to project participants on the design of surveys for research and Extension purposes, as well as an increased capacity to design and implement effective survey procedures with rural and agricultural stakeholders.
This project increases response rates, improves data quality, and reduces the cost of conducting effective surveys

Grants, Contracts & Other Resources Obtained

Tiffany Drape Grants:

PI: Drape, T., A., Travis, E., & Mays, A., (10/1/25-9/30/26). A Long-Term Evaluation of the Promise Program Proposal. Wellspring Foundation.

Co-PI: Mulder, M., Hess, P., & Drape, T., (9/01/24-8/31/2027). Arcadia veteran farmer program. United States Department of Agriculture, Ag Veterans.

Zhengyuan Zhu Grants:

PI, DOJ National Institute of Justice (Co-PI E. Berg K. Burgason), “FUSE: Fast Unbiased Small-area Estimation for Timely Measurement of Community Perceptions of Policing and Public Safety”. $499,562.00, 2025-2027.

PI, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (Co-PI: J. Kim, C. Yu, and E. Berg), “Statistical and Survey Methods Support for the National Resources Inventory”. $7,750,000.00, 2023-2026.

PI, Iowa nutrient research and education council, “Statistical and survey methods support for the collection and analysis of the in-field agricultural practices data in Illinois crop reporting districts”, $15,000, 2024-2025.

PI, Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, “Iowa Youth Survey Administration”, $59,976, 2024-2025.

co-PI, Department of Interior Bureau of Land Management (PI: C. Yu), “Statistical and Survey Methods Support for the BLM-Managed Lands Survey Program”, $821,999.00, 2023-2028.

Katie McLaughlin Grants: