1. Who are the people behind 1930 Research?

    1930 Research LLC was founded by Dr. Jacob Kaplan, a Professional Specialist at Princeton University with a Ph.D. in criminology from the University of Pennsylvania. Jacob served on the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Subcommittee, holds a federal Public Trust designation, and is the author of A Criminologist’s Guide to R (CRC Press). Dr. Kristina Block serves as Director of Research and is an Assistant Professor of Law and Justice Studies at Rowan University with a Ph.D. in Criminal Justice from Sam Houston State University and an M.S. in Criminology from the University of Pennsylvania. See our full team page for more details.

  2. What makes you different from other consultants?

    Most data projects focus on analysis. We specialize in the step before that: figuring out what the data are, what it means, and cleaning it so it is ready for analysis. Good data are the foundation of accurate results. This is especially important in litigation, where you are often working with data produced by the opposing party who may know its flaws and is unlikely to volunteer that information. We find those problems, document them, and make sure you understand what the data can and cannot support before you build your case on it.

  3. Have you worked with organizations like mine before?

    Past clients include the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division (under multiple administrations), the American Civil Liberties Union, and AH Datalytics. We have worked with government agencies, advocacy organizations, academic research teams, and legal teams.

  4. What will I actually receive at the end of a project?

    The core deliverable is a clean version of your data, merged and formatted to meet your needs, along with documentation explaining the data and an assessment of its quality and limitations. Throughout the project we communicate regularly with clients about what the data shows, what kinds of analyses are possible, and any ways we can adjust our approach based on what we find. Our deliverables are flexible and shaped by what is actually useful to you.

  5. What types of data do you work with?

    We work with a wide range of government crime and policing data at the local, state, and federal level, in various formats and quality levels. This includes local police administrative data such as CAD, RMS, arrest records, and traffic stop data, as well as FBI UCR/NIBRS data. We also work with data produced in litigation, FOIA requests, and data extracted from PDFs and websites when it is not available for download.

  6. What if my data is stuck in PDFs or on a website?

    We can extract it. Whether it is a single table or thousands of pages of PDFs, we can pull the data out and deliver it in a format you can actually work with, such as an Excel file or a clean dataset ready for analysis. This includes tables embedded in government reports, court documents, and data published on websites that cannot be downloaded directly.

  7. What if my data spans multiple jurisdictions or reporting standards?

    That is a core part of what we do. We specialize in merging data across agencies, jurisdictions, and time periods, and identifying where differences in reporting standards make datasets incomparable. If we find problems that limit what the data can show, we will tell you before you build anything on top of them.

  8. Can your methods stand up in legal settings?

    Yes. We document every step and deliver fully reproducible R code alongside written reports. Past work has been used in government publications and court proceedings.

  9. Can you work with sensitive data?

    Yes. We have experience handling data with personally identifiable information and can work under NDA for sensitive projects.

  10. Will we own the analysis and tools you create?

    Yes. All deliverables including R code are yours to use, modify, and build on independently.

  11. Can you work with real-time or frequently updated data?

    Yes. We can build automated workflows for recurring data updates that maintain consistency and reduce manual work over time.

  12. How quickly can we expect results?

    It depends on the complexity of the project. We provide clear timelines upfront and keep clients updated throughout.

  13. How do we get started?

    Email us at Jacob@1930research.com with a brief description of your data and what you are trying to accomplish. We offer a free initial consultation to assess fit and discuss next steps.

  14. How do you charge for projects?

    We work on a project or hourly basis depending on scope. Contact us at Jacob@1930research.com for rates and availability.

For a formal summary of our capabilities and past performance, download our Capability Statement.

Ready to get started? Contact us to discuss your project.