Common Data Types in Public Health Research

Data Types
Quantitative Data
 Quantitative data is measurable, often used for comparisons, and involves counting of people, behaviors, conditions, or
other discrete events (Wang, 2013).
 Quantitative data uses numbers to determine the what, who, when, and where of health-related events (Wang, 2013).
 Examples of quantitative data include: age, weight, temperature, or the number of people suffering from diabetes.
Qualitative Data
 Qualitative data is a broad category of data that can include almost any non-numerical data.
 Qualitative data uses words to describe a particular health-related event (Romano).
 This data can be observed, but not measured.
 Involves observing people in selected places and listening to discover how they feel and why they might feel that way
(Wang, 2013).
 Examples of qualitative data include: male/female, smoker/non-smoker, or questionnaire response (agree, disagree,
neutral).
 Example of qualitative data from a health care setting includes (Curry, Nembhard, & Bradley, 2009):
o Measuring organizational change.
o Measures of clinical leadership in implementing evidence-based guidelines.
o Patient perceptions of quality of care.
Data Sources
Primary Data Sources
 Primary data analysis in which the same individual or team of researchers designs, collects, and analyzes the data, for the
purpose of answering a research question (Koziol & Arthur, nd).
Advantages to Using Primary Data
 You collect exactly the data elements that you need to answer your research question (Romano).
 You can test an intervention, such as an experimental drug or an educational program, in the purest way (a double-blind
randomized controlled trial (Romano).
 You control the data collection process, so you can ensure data quality, minimize the number of missing values, and
assess the reliability of your instruments (Romano).
Secondary Data Sources
 Existing data collected for another purposes, that you use to answer your research question (Romano).
Advantages of Working with Secondary Data
 Large samples
 Can provide population estimates : for example state data can be combined across states to get national estimates
(Shaheen, Pan, & Mukherjee).
 Less expensive to collect than primary data (Romano)
 It takes less time to collect secondary data (Romano).
 You may not need to worry about informed consent, human subjects restriction (Romano).
Issues in Using Secondary Data
 Study design and data collection already completed (Koziol & Arthur, nd).
 Data may not facilitate particular research question o Information regarding study design and data collection
procedures may be scarce.
 Data may potentially lack depth (the greater the breadth the harder it is to measure any one construct in depth) (Koziol
& Arthur, nd).
 Certain fields or departments (e.g., experimental programs) may place less value on secondary data analysis (Koziol &
Arthur, nd).
 Often requires special techniques to analyze statistically the data.
Disease Registries
Disease Registries
 Disease registries are centralized databases for the collection of information of specific diseases, for example cancer
registries (Cromley & McLafferty, 2012b).
  Cancer registries are the most extensive disease registries in the U.S. (Cromley & McLafferty, 2012b).

National Program of Cancer Registries (NPCR)

 Established by Congress through the Cancer Registries Amendment Act in 1992, and administered by CDC, the National
Program of Cancer Registries (NPCR) collects data on the occurrence of cancer; the type, extent, and location of the
cancer; and the type of initial treatment (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013k).
 Tools that are available without researcher approval:
o The United States Cancer Statistics (USCS): Incidence and Mortality Web-based report contains official federal
government cancer statistics for new cancer cases and deaths.
o State Cancer Facts provides state-specific data on lung, colorectal, female breast, and prostate cancers,
including the estimated number of new cancer cases, cancer deaths, and the age-adjusted mortality rates for
cancer deaths by race for each state.
o CDC's Interactive Cancer Atlas (InCA) uses USCS data to create United States maps that allow you to make quick
comparisons including incidence or mortality rate or count, cancer site, gender, race/ethnicity, and year.
o CDC WONDER includes variables on the year of diagnosis, state, region, or division of the United States, sex,
race, ethnicity, age, primary site, and childhood cancer.
 Tools available with approved researcher status:
o The Research Data Center (RDC) provides access to restricted National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) data,
as well as a variety of other groups within the Department of Health and Human Services.
 Registry Plus™ Software Programs for Cancer Registries is a suite of publicly available free software programs for
collecting and processing cancer registry data (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013k).

Financial or Service Utilization Data

 Medical Services Utilization data is typically related to direct care at a hospital or clinic. For example, this might include
medical provider visits, the number of nights spent in a hospital, or prescription medicine use (O'Hara, 2012).
 However, many states also provide utilization data for primary care and specialty clinics, long-term care, home health
agencies, and hospices.
 This data is typically linked to an eligibility or enrollment file with demographic data.

Hospital Data
Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (AHRQ)
 The HCUP pronounced "H-CUP") is a collection of databases and related software tools and products is made possible
by a Federal-State-Industry partnership sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). HCUPnet
is an on-line query system that gives you instant access to the largest set of all-payer health care databases that are
publicly available. Using HCUPnet's query system, you can generate tables and graphs on national and regional statistics
and trends for community hospitals in the U.S. In addition, community hospital data are available for those States that
have agreed to participate in HCUPnet.
Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS)
 NIS is a database of hospital inpatient stays that can be used to identify, track, and analyze national trends in health care
utilization, access, charges, quality, and outcomes.
Kids' Inpatient Database (KID)
 KID is a database of hospital inpatient stays for children. KID was specifically designed to permit researchers to study a
broad range of conditions and procedures related to child health issues.
Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS)
 The Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS) is a database of national estimates of emergency department
(ED) visits.
State Inpatient Databases (SID)
 The State Inpatient Databases (SID) are a set of hospital databases from data organizations in participating states, that
contain clinical and resource use information included in a typical discharge abstract, with safeguards to protect the
privacy of individual patients, physicians, and hospitals (as required by data sources) (Agency for Healthcare Research
and Quality, 2013a.
State Ambulatory Surgery Databases (SASD)
 The State Ambulatory Surgery Databases (SASD) capture surgeries performed on the same day in which patients are
admitted and released (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2013a.
State Emergency Department Databases (SEDD)
 The State Emergency Department Databases (SEDD) contain data on discharge information on all emergency
department visits that do not result in an admission (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2013a). Information
on patients initially seen in the emergency room and then admitted to the hospital is included in the State Inpatient
Databases (SID) (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2013a).

Survey Data
About Survey Data
 Public health researchers often use survey data to help them examine health-related behaviors, and psychosocial well-
being (Cromley & McLafferty, 2012b).
 Primary sampling units (PSU): are used in sample surveys, and refer to sampling units that are selected in the first
(primary) stage of a multi-stage sample ultimately aimed at selecting individual elements (Cromley & McLafferty,
2012b).
 The CDC National Health Care Surveys are designed to answer key questions of interest to health care policy makers,
public health professionals, and researchers (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013d).
 Surveys can also be used to screen for particular health conditions. These proactive public health surveys attempt to
uncover a health condition before it becomes a problem (Cromley & McLafferty, 2012b).
o Since screening programs only target high-risk populations, any estimates and maps prepared from this data
only pertain to the screened population (Cromley & McLafferty, 2012b).
o Screening penetration: the percentage of the at risk population screened (Cromley & McLafferty, 2012b).