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Randolph Atkins joined The Walsh Group as a Research Scientist in 2001. He now holds the position of Senior Research Scientist for TWG. Dr. Atkins currently serves as Principal Investigator, evaluator, and/or project manager on various research projects.
As a researcher, Dr. Atkins has extensive experience in research methods, including project design, survey research, instrument design and implementation, interviewing, interviewer training, respondent tracking, database management, data analysis, and report writing. He has used a variety of data collection approaches in his work, including telephone interviewing, face-to-face interviewing, mailed questionnaires, web-based on-line surveys, focus groups, participant observation, and archival research.
Prior to coming to The Walsh Group, Dr. Atkins held the position of Research Assistant Professor at the University of Virginia’s (U.Va.) Department of Psychiatric Medicine in the School of Medicine. Prior to that appointment, Dr. Atkins held research positions at the University of Virginia’s Center for Survey Research, Department of Health Evaluation Sciences, and Institute for Substance Abuse Studies, as well as at the Virginia Department of Transportation Research Council. Projects he worked on while in these positions included a workplace managed care study examining the effectiveness of prevention programs and Employee Assistance Program interventions in the workplace, a statewide survey of drug and alcohol use by Virginia college students, drug and alcohol use surveys at various individual colleges and universities, a national study of drug and alcohol abuse by physicians in anesthesiology programs, a study on available services at rural mental health clinics in the southeastern United States, a study on the health of rural African-Americans, a study on the effects of health care providers’ attitudes and perceptions of pain on costs and services for chronic pain, and a study on the needs of older drivers, as well as citizen satisfaction and consumer studies.
In addition to his research experience, Dr. Atkins has been an instructor of sociology at the University of Virginia, The College of William and Mary, The University of Richmond, James Madison University and Sweet Briar College. Among the courses he has taught are Drugs and Society, Social Problems, Contemporary Social Movements, and Introductory Sociology. He also worked with the Internship Program at U.Va., as well as a program of applied learning skills in the U.Va. Education Department designed to help undergraduate students experiencing academic difficulties become better students.
Dr. Atkins received his Bachelor of Arts Degree, Masters Degree, and Doctoral Degree in sociology from the University of Virginia. His thesis and dissertation research focused on self-help recovery groups in addiction treatment, an area of ongoing research interest. |
