Tuesday was the grand opening of the U of S Social Sciences Research Laboratory.  There were a bunch of MLAs and MPs, and the mayor, and the type of really nice catering you rarely see at U of S.  I went because I was keen to see what type of facilities they have and also what services they offer.  They are selling some of their research capacity on a cost-recovery basis, so if you want to write into a grant that you have a GIS component or a qualitative focus group component or a telephone survey, you can form a partnership with the Lab and get a quote, without worrying about hiring and training someone.  Pretty nice!
One of the cool projects they have been doing with phone surveys ‘Taking the pulse of Saskatchewan’ let’s you go to the website and compare your responses to that of Saskstchewanians. Â Normally phone surveys aren’t all that accurate, but since going to Saskatchewan is like going back 20 years, its not just cranky, no-caller-ID old people that have phones. Â I was pleasantly surprised that more people than I thought supported gay marriage and reproductive rights.