CARE, a unit of the College of Social Work’s Social Work Office and Public Service, provides a data collection structure for researchers through UT and beyond, utilizing telephone surveys, data comparison, postcard surveys, and other forms of applied research data collection. The center was created in 2009 to house and expand the role of the former Social Sciences Research Institute, a unit within the College of Arts and Sciences that was established in 1987 and that began operations January 1, 1988.
A campus-wide faculty committee, appointed by Provost George Wheeler in 1986, recommended the establishment of the Social Sciences Research Institute. The focus of the institute was originally to draw together diverse interests in the social sciences to conduct joint research and to appoint fellows and provide seminars on campus. Director Alvin Burstein made the announcement of the appointment of the institute’s first four fellows in January 1989. They were William Lyons, professor of political science; Brian K. Barber, professor of child and family studies; Neal Shover, professor of sociology; and Eric Sundstrom, professor of psychology. The institute engaged in applied social science research under grants and contracts and supported various social science related activities at the university. The most visible activity of the SSRI (since 1989) was conducting the Tennessee Poll, a statewide telephone survey for which researchers and governmental agencies annually suggested questions to be added to a core set of questions.