Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Reaching New Heights
For those of you who've been wondering, here's what I've been up to recently -- making progress and helping today's youth.
--- "Lee, David J" wrote:
> Christine-
>
> I was at your office building last week meeting with
> Chris Rogers. We are about to embark on our NHIS
> mortality analyses with the RDC and I understand you
> were instrumental in getting the NDI file to Chris.
> We stopped by your office so I could say thanks but
> you were away from your desk.
>
> At any rate, the topic of student access to the RDC
> came up (admittedly I brought it up). One idea that
> was discussed was to set up some sort of scholarship
> mechanism that could be based on merit, but might
> afford some flexibility in funding students with
> very limited financial resources. This mechanism
> could be limited to a set number of scholarships per
> year so that NCHS can budget accordingly. For the
> remaining students, perhaps a fixed rate of
> $200-$300 will grant other students access to a
> fixed amount of programmer/statistician time. If
> such mechanisms could be posted on the NCHS website,
> then it seems that the current financial barrier to
> student access to the RDC would be greatly reduced
> (just don't assign them to Chris since we want to
> keep him to ourselves!).
>
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: Lee, David J
> Sent: Thu 7/15/2004 2:41 PM
> To: 'xxxx@cdc.gov'
> Cc: Fleming, Lora E
> Subject: some thoughts on the NCHS conference
>
>
>
> I am very grateful for the information you provided
> at the NCHS Data Users' Conference. As I mentioned
> to you, I am always amazed at the tremendous output
> produced by your relatively small staff. I realize
> that producing sessions for the Data Users'
> Conference is an enormous task, but I find the
> opportunity to interface with staff a not-to-be
> missed opportunity. As an NCHS data user since my
> days as a graduate student in the late 1980's, I
> have also been witness to the dramatic improvements
> in the quality and sophistication of the NCHS
> designed-studies--- as well as a corresponding
> improvement in the quality and access to supporting
> documentation.
>
> The growing need for restricted data access to
> protect participant confidentiality was a dominant
> theme at the 2002 Data Users' Conference, so I was
> not surprised this week to discover that a growing
> amount of sensitive information would no longer be
> released to investigators. I was very surprised to
> find out that this restriction extended to the
> release of National Death Index linkages with the
> various NCHS studies. Part of my surprise was due
> to e-mail correspondence back in February which
> indicated that this data linkage would be made
> available to investigators in the summer of 2004 in
> the form of a CD-ROM (as has been the case with
> previous data linkages). What was so disappointing
> about this discovery was that our research team just
> submitted two competing continuation applications
> for our currently funded NIA and NIOSH grants; both
> of these applications included proposed analyses
> with the new NDI linkages with the National Health
> Interview Surveys (1986-2000). Had the NCHS website
> indicated that linkage data would only be made
> available through the Research Data Center (RDC), we
> could have properly budgeted for these new costs
> prior to the submission of these grants.
>
> The need to work with the RDC to access a wide
> variety of sensitive information was a dominant
> theme at every session I attended this week. It is
> most unfortunate that a session devoted to the RDC
> was not on the agenda, as I believe it would have
> considerably reduced the anxiety and confusion I
> witnessed among many of my fellow attendees. I am
> also concerned that NCHS has not adequately devoted
> sufficient resources to the RDC. As the breadth of
> restricted data grows, so to will the number of
> users seeking to interface with the RDC. I
> anticipate that there will be many, many outside
> investigators contacting the RDC in the next 12-24
> months as these new mortality linkages become
> available. A large proportion of these
> investigators will need to access the RDC remotely
> and I was left with impression this week that
> progress toward automated access to both data and
> the necessary software to complete
> design-appropriate analyses (eg, SUDAAN) is very
> limited.
>
> Automated access for experienced users such as our
> research team is not my only concern. I am also
> afraid that the RDC will create two classes of NCHS
> data users'---those who can afford to cover RDC
> charges and those who cannot. There must be
> hundreds if not thousands of students across the
> country utilizing NCHS data for their research
> projects, including doctoral dissertations. As a
> matter of fairness, I think it is imperative that
> NCHS develops a mechanism for granting these
> students access to RDC services at reduced or
> no-cost.
>
> I can only assume that many or all my concerns are
> already being considered at the highest levels
> within the NCHS. As a direct beneficiary of the
> dedicated labor of NCHS personnel, I would like to
> offer my assistance in any way possible to assist in
> this difficult transition period (eg, informal
> sounding board, external advisory committee member,
> etc.).
>
>
> David J. Lee, PhD
> Associate Professor
> Department of Epidemiology and Public Health
> University of Miami School of Medicine
> P.O. Box xxxxxxx
> Miami, FL 33101
> 305-243-xxxx
> 786-200-xxxx (cell)
>
>
>
>
>
For those of you who've been wondering, here's what I've been up to recently -- making progress and helping today's youth.
--- "Lee, David J"
> Christine-
>
> I was at your office building last week meeting with
> Chris Rogers. We are about to embark on our NHIS
> mortality analyses with the RDC and I understand you
> were instrumental in getting the NDI file to Chris.
> We stopped by your office so I could say thanks but
> you were away from your desk.
>
> At any rate, the topic of student access to the RDC
> came up (admittedly I brought it up). One idea that
> was discussed was to set up some sort of scholarship
> mechanism that could be based on merit, but might
> afford some flexibility in funding students with
> very limited financial resources. This mechanism
> could be limited to a set number of scholarships per
> year so that NCHS can budget accordingly. For the
> remaining students, perhaps a fixed rate of
> $200-$300 will grant other students access to a
> fixed amount of programmer/statistician time. If
> such mechanisms could be posted on the NCHS website,
> then it seems that the current financial barrier to
> student access to the RDC would be greatly reduced
> (just don't assign them to Chris since we want to
> keep him to ourselves!).
>
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: Lee, David J
> Sent: Thu 7/15/2004 2:41 PM
> To: 'xxxx@cdc.gov'
> Cc: Fleming, Lora E
> Subject: some thoughts on the NCHS conference
>
>
>
> I am very grateful for the information you provided
> at the NCHS Data Users' Conference. As I mentioned
> to you, I am always amazed at the tremendous output
> produced by your relatively small staff. I realize
> that producing sessions for the Data Users'
> Conference is an enormous task, but I find the
> opportunity to interface with staff a not-to-be
> missed opportunity. As an NCHS data user since my
> days as a graduate student in the late 1980's, I
> have also been witness to the dramatic improvements
> in the quality and sophistication of the NCHS
> designed-studies--- as well as a corresponding
> improvement in the quality and access to supporting
> documentation.
>
> The growing need for restricted data access to
> protect participant confidentiality was a dominant
> theme at the 2002 Data Users' Conference, so I was
> not surprised this week to discover that a growing
> amount of sensitive information would no longer be
> released to investigators. I was very surprised to
> find out that this restriction extended to the
> release of National Death Index linkages with the
> various NCHS studies. Part of my surprise was due
> to e-mail correspondence back in February which
> indicated that this data linkage would be made
> available to investigators in the summer of 2004 in
> the form of a CD-ROM (as has been the case with
> previous data linkages). What was so disappointing
> about this discovery was that our research team just
> submitted two competing continuation applications
> for our currently funded NIA and NIOSH grants; both
> of these applications included proposed analyses
> with the new NDI linkages with the National Health
> Interview Surveys (1986-2000). Had the NCHS website
> indicated that linkage data would only be made
> available through the Research Data Center (RDC), we
> could have properly budgeted for these new costs
> prior to the submission of these grants.
>
> The need to work with the RDC to access a wide
> variety of sensitive information was a dominant
> theme at every session I attended this week. It is
> most unfortunate that a session devoted to the RDC
> was not on the agenda, as I believe it would have
> considerably reduced the anxiety and confusion I
> witnessed among many of my fellow attendees. I am
> also concerned that NCHS has not adequately devoted
> sufficient resources to the RDC. As the breadth of
> restricted data grows, so to will the number of
> users seeking to interface with the RDC. I
> anticipate that there will be many, many outside
> investigators contacting the RDC in the next 12-24
> months as these new mortality linkages become
> available. A large proportion of these
> investigators will need to access the RDC remotely
> and I was left with impression this week that
> progress toward automated access to both data and
> the necessary software to complete
> design-appropriate analyses (eg, SUDAAN) is very
> limited.
>
> Automated access for experienced users such as our
> research team is not my only concern. I am also
> afraid that the RDC will create two classes of NCHS
> data users'---those who can afford to cover RDC
> charges and those who cannot. There must be
> hundreds if not thousands of students across the
> country utilizing NCHS data for their research
> projects, including doctoral dissertations. As a
> matter of fairness, I think it is imperative that
> NCHS develops a mechanism for granting these
> students access to RDC services at reduced or
> no-cost.
>
> I can only assume that many or all my concerns are
> already being considered at the highest levels
> within the NCHS. As a direct beneficiary of the
> dedicated labor of NCHS personnel, I would like to
> offer my assistance in any way possible to assist in
> this difficult transition period (eg, informal
> sounding board, external advisory committee member,
> etc.).
>
>
> David J. Lee, PhD
> Associate Professor
> Department of Epidemiology and Public Health
> University of Miami School of Medicine
> P.O. Box xxxxxxx
> Miami, FL 33101
> 305-243-xxxx
> 786-200-xxxx (cell)
>
>
>
>
>
