Part of SSRI's main mission is to bring together researchers with interests in various social science research areas and help them work together. The programs below meet different needs within SSRI and create an opportunity for both faculty and students to collaborate.

• The Duke Initiative on Survey Methodology (DISM), directed by D. Sunshine Hillygus, aims to enhance research and teaching in survey research methods.  

• Duke Interdisciplinary Initiative in Social Psychology (DIISP), directed by Mark Leary, draws together researchers from psychology, sociology, law, health, business and political science in addressing advanced topics - both basic and applied - at the nexus of the mind, brain and society. Leary has created an atmosphere in which people have the ability to perform studies both in the stationary DIISP lab or on-the-go in the Research Mobile.

• The Program for Advanced Research in the Social Sciences (PARISS), co-directed by John Aldrich and Scott de Marchi, creates a central mission provision of a coherent and integrated understanding of quantitative approaches in the social sciences. PARISS provides Duke graduate students with an interdisciplinary context in which to develop and apply their methodological skills.