Research in music education
A "survey" is a systematic method of collecting information on one or more variables. An example of a survey study is a 1998 study by Gillespie and Hamann. The purpose of the study was to gather descriptive information about orchestra programs that can be used as baseline data when considering the needs of school string programs. The findings indicated a continued enrollment increase in school orchestras in the 1990s although the number of orchestra teachers remained stable, and that larger schools are more likely to offer orchestra instruction. The impact of the study was the recommendation that school systems should provide larger, more adequate teaching facilities and that universities and string teachers should emphasize strategies for teaching larger string classes in their teacher preparation programs.
Prairie Research Institute
In 2008, with the passage of Public Act 95-728, also known as the Illinois Scientific Surveys Act (110 ILCS 425)), the lllinois State Legislature established the Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The Scientific Surveys Act also transferred all the rights, duties, powers, property, and functions of the Scientific Surveys and the Sustainable Technology Center from the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to the Prairie Research Institute. Under the Scientific Surveys Act, the Scientific Surveys are authorized to investigate, study, conserve and develop Illinois' natural and cultural resources; collaborate with and advise Illinois, other states, and the federal government about Illinois' natural resources; disseminate and educate the public about their research and investigations; and maintain relationships between and among the Scientific Surveys and Illinois' public and private colleges and universities. The Institute itself is governed by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees, with its Executive Director reporting directly to the University's Vice Chancellor for Research. 
Researchers at the Institute are engaged in basic and applied research across a spectrum of disciplines including agriculture and forestry, biodiversity and ecosystem health, atmospheric resources, climate and associated natural hazards, cultural resources and history of human settlements, disease and public health, emerging pests, fisheries and wildlife, energy and industrial technology, mineral resources, pollution prevention and mitigation, and water resources. Examples include impact and control of invasive Asian carp, Lyme disease vector ecology, Illinois water supply quality and quantity investigations, geologic carbon sequestration, development of geospatial tools, discovery and excavation of massive prehistoric settlements surrounding Cahokia in advance of new bridge construction, persistence of estrogens in dairy farm wastewater, electronics re-use to minimize electronic waste, and monitoring atmospheric deposition of radioisotopes in North America following the Fukushima reactor incident.