A survey teammate with methodology built in.
Formulate helps you write, field and analyze surveys. It catches leading questions, vague scales and double-barreled items before respondents ever see them.
formulatesurveys.com →Tyler S. Steelman, PhD
I help organizations ask better questions, and I build tools that make it easier.
I am a survey methodologist based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. My work sits where survey research, employee listening and people data meet. I also run Metric House, a small software studio.
About
I earned my PhD in political science at UNC-Chapel Hill, with concentrations in American politics and methodology. My methods training focused on surveys, and most of my professional work today is in employee listening: designing the surveys organizations use to hear from their people, and shaping how that feedback turns into products and decisions.
Survey methodology
Questionnaire design, measurement and data quality, from first draft to fielding.
Employee listening
Programs that help organizations hear from their people and act on what they learn.
People data product strategy
Turning people data into tools and products that teams actually use.
Quality is the bedrock of good, usable data.
AI is useful in research when an experienced person is guiding it.
Metric House
Metric House is a small, self-funded software studio I started in 2026. I started it to build things I truly wanted to use.
Visit metric-house.com →
A simpler way to run a research subject pool.
Recruit puts a university subject pool in one place. Researchers submit studies, coordinators review them, and students sign up and earn course credit tracked to the right class.
recruit.metric-house.com →
Find the right place to work, near you.
Tell Knowmad what kind of work you have to do, and it suggests nearby cafes, libraries and coworking spots that fit. It covers Chapel Hill, Durham and Carrboro.
knowmad.work →Writing
I write short, practical guides on survey methodology for the Formulate blog. Before that, my academic research focused on legislative redistricting and political representation.
On the Formulate blog
- Double-barreled questions: what they are and how to fix them
- Leading questions: how subtle wording skews your survey results
- Likert scale design: how many points, labeled or numeric, and why it matters
- Types of survey bias: 12 examples and how to fix each one
- Survey pre-fielding checklist: how to audit an instrument before launch
Publications
- Where and When to Use Areal Interpolation Matching Relative to Spatial Audits
- Redistricting out Descriptive Representation: The Harmful Effects of Splitting ZIP Codes on the Constituent-Representative Link
- No Experience Required: Early Donations and Amateur Candidate Success in Primary Elections
- Minmaxing of Bayesian Improved Surname Geocoding Level Ups in Predicting Race
- Meanings and Impacts of Confederate Monuments in the U.S. South
- I Choose You! Special Interest Group Endorsements in the 2018 U.S. House Midterm Elections
- A Response to Tests for Unconstitutional Partisan Gerrymanders in a Post-Gill World in a Post-Rucho World
- Redistricting out Representation: Democratic Harms in Splitting ZIP Codes
Contact
Email is the best way to reach me. I am always happy to talk about surveys, people data or anything Metric House is building.