As telephone interviews—which were seen as more economical and efficient—began to replace face-to-face interviews as the most common survey research methodology, SRC created its first centralized telephone interviewing facility on the first floor of the Thompson building. The original facility, consisting of 18 carrels, expanded and moved within the building and then off site; became part of the Survey Research Operations; and eventually relocated to the Perry Building.

Survey Research Operations (SRO) is the data collection unit within the Survey Research Center and the largest academic based survey research organization in the country. We offer comprehensive survey design, project management, sampling, data collection, and data processing services for researchers both within and beyond the U-M community. SRO collects cross-sectional and longitudinal data from local, regional, and national study populations, and we are devoted to innovative and high quality measurement, data collection, and implementation of survey methodology in the social sciences.

Withey held appointments in SRC, the Department of Psychology, and the Department of Communication at Michigan. He applied social–psychological theory and quantitative methods to research into public perceptions and attitudes toward big business, science, and technology; the values and behavior of adolescents; and the effects of mass media on social behavior. Withey also included perceived life-satisfaction measures in his survey methods. His 1976 book with Frank Andrews, “Social Indicators of Well-Being in America,” remains a classic work in survey methodology.