Thomas Brassell
Thomas leads our Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) portfolio, working with State and local health departments to collect representative health behavior data. He also directed our COVID-19 Monitor Survey of U.S. Adults and co-authored multiple blogs and articles publishing our research results. Thomas has a strong background in survey methodology with a focus on innovative study designs. He has designed multiple research studies that explored methods to improve telephone and mail study designs, examined the utility of non-probability samples in post-disaster and health research, and assessed the effectiveness of text messaging to improve response rates.
Prior to joining the BRFSS team, Thomas collaborated with the Alcohol Research Group to design multiple pilot tests to enhance data collection for the 14th iteration of the National Alcohol Survey. In addition, from 2018 through 2020, he directed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Traumatic Brain Injury Surveillance System Pilot, a national study designed to examine the frequency and degree of traumatic brain injuries in the country. This study consisted of collecting over 10,000 household interviews of adults, children via adult proxy, and adolescents.
Thomas is an active member of the American Association of Public Opinion Research.
-
M.A., Industrial-Organizational Psychology, Xavier University
-
B.A., Psychology and History, Indiana University - Bloomington
-
Brassell, T., Dayton, J., & Kinder, R. (2019). Pre/Post Hurricane Surveys: Measuring Hurricane Preparation and Post Storm Impacts Using Geofencing Methods. In JSM Proceedings, Survey Methodology Section. Alexandria, VA: American Statistical Association. 580-594.
-
Jans, M., ZuWallack, R., Martin, K., Brassell, T., Dayton, J., Immerwahr, S., Levanon Seligson, A., & Lim, S. (2019). How hard is it to remove mode effects in multimode surveys? Basic weighting vs. three model-based methods. Proceedings of the Survey Research Methods Section, American Statistical Association (JSM).
-
What we can learn from U.S. sentiment about the coronavirus to help stop a second wave (2020), Brassell, Thomas; Boyle, John; Dayton, James. https://www.fastcompany.com/90515903/what-we-can-learn-from-u-s-sentiment-about-the-coronavirus-to-help-stop-a-second-wave
-
Bailly, K., Brassell, T., Jans, M., ZuWallack, R., Chartier, K., Martinez, P., Patterson, D., Greenfield, T., & Karriker-Jaffe, K. (2020, May). Is there anybody out there? Evaluation of methods to increase minority group response in ABS design. Poster presented at the annual national conference by the American Association for Public Opinion Research, 2020 Virtual Conference.
-
Brassell, T., Dyer, A., Dayton, J., Vincent, S., ZuWallack, R., & Duell, J. (2019, May). Do you have my reservation? Leveraging Technology to Keep Callback Appointments. Paper presented at the annual national conference by the American Association for Public Opinion Research, Toronto, ON, Canada.
-
Brassell, T., Duell, J., ZuWallack, R., & Jans, M. (2019, May). Hey you just texted us – this is crazy – here’s why we’re calling – please take our survey! An evaluation of text interactions on an RDD study using an SMS-enabled outbound number. Paper presented at the annual national conference by the American Association for Public Opinion Research, Toronto, ON, Canada.
