Careers
Applied Research and Methods
Our Work
Recent Accomplishments
Key Contacts
Our Work
Applied Research and Method’s (ARM) primary mission is to provide technical and specialist expertise that supports and extends the work of other GAO teams and thus contributes to the overall quality of the information GAO supplies to Congress and federal agencies. Our staff serve as consultants to other GAO teams, provide technical analyses where required, perform specialized reviews, and prepare guidance on methodological issues. We also conduct studies on questions of interest to Congress that require specialized analysis.
Our staff includes five subject matter chiefs—Chief Accountant, Chief Actuary, Chief Economist, Chief Statistician, and Chief Technologist—who provide expert advice to all GAO teams. ARM is organized into four centers that assist GAO’s mission teams:
- Center for Economics.
- Center for Design, Methods, and Analysis.
- Center for Evaluation Methods and Issues.
- Center for Technology and Engineering and the e-Security Laboratory.
Recent Accomplishments
- Evaluating technologies that detect and kill anthrax and decontaminate mail and the environment.
- Assessing the application of biometric techniques in authenticating individuals entering the United States.
- Reviewing studies of the economic impact of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
- Developing a method of obtaining reliable information on the immigration status of foreign-born persons in the United States to inform and evaluate decisions and changes in immigration law and policy.
- Analyzing DOD’s modeling and classifications of U.S. troops’ exposures to chemical warfare agents during the Gulf War.
- Applying ethnographic techniques to evaluate agencies’ programs to implement cultural change.
- Identifying how an overstay tracking system for illegal immigrants could work together with intelligence, investigation, and information sharing in a layered national defense.
- Reviewing the Census Bureau’s implementation of the American Community Survey.
- Analyzing the privacy and confidentiality issues that arise when programs link computerized data from different sources that contain personal information.
- Developing a survey technique that can support estimates of sensitive variables without directly asking respondents sensitive questions.
- Examining issues in federal program evaluation.
Key Contacts
Managing Director: Nancy Kingsbury
Chiefs:
- Robert Dacey, Chief Accountant
- Joseph Applebaum, Chief Actuary
- Susan Offutt, Chief Economist
- Ron Fecso, Chief Statistician
- Naba Barkakati, Acting Chief Technologist
Director, Center for Design, Methods, and Analysis: Sidney Schwartz
Director, Center for Economics: Thomas McCool
Senior-Level Technologists: Chris Martin, Madhav Panwar, Hai Tran
Phone: (202) 512-2700
Mailing Address:
U.S. Government Accountability Office
Applied Research and Methods
Room 6K17
441 G Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20548