About the Data Lab:

The Department of Community and Preventive Medicine has established a data laboratory. There are two major components to this project:

1. a data set library
2. a web-based catalogue of the data sets

What is the Vision of the Data Laboratory?

The development of this project is concomitant with the growing interest of clinicians and clinical students in Health Services Research. Despite this growing interest, however, many clinically trained scientists do not have much experience in working with data sets, making it difficult to follow through on this research interest. The Data Laboratory is an attempt to reduce this barrier to health services and clinical research.

PART 1: The Data Set Library

The data set library includes a wide range of data sets from the community to the national level. In addition, it contains abstracts of each database to help the researcher decide which database to use. There are five general categories of data sets, and they are:

1. Survey Data sets, such as Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) and Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS).
2. Utilization Data sets, such the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Kids' Inpatient Database.
3. Administrative Data sets, such as HCFA public use files and Unique Physician Identification Number (UPIN).
4. Geographic Data sets, such as Medicare State and County Enrollment for 1998 and Area Resource File (ARF).
5. Population Data set(s), such as Health Data on Older Americans.

PART 2: User-Friendly Interface

The user-friendly web-based interface makes it easy for the researcher to navigate the site and identify relevant data sets. Data set request procedures are readily available on the site. All data are available in SAS format.

For more information on the Health Services Research Data Laboratory, please contact: