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Research Projects
Data Core Project
PI: Patricia Ebener
Funded by: The Ford Foundation
Drug research has sometimes been hampered by the under-utilization of major data sets on different aspects of the drug problem. In part this reflects the fragmentation of data collection in this area--seventeen federal agencies collect this data, as well as many state and local agencies. RAND has long been committed to integrating these disparate sources to develop a single data core that provides researchers easy access to a number of these data sets and thus facilitates integrated analysis. This study investigates the history, current status, and future plans for major drug data series (including the Drug Abuse Warning Network, Uniform Crime Reports, The National Household Survey of Drug Abuse, and others). After interviewing Funders of these data series, organizations that collect and process the data, and data users, RAND researchers will compile information about how data is collected, how the data series are constructed, whether the data is available for secondary analysis, and the range of past, current, and future research questions that these data systems can address. The research will ultimately explore the viability of linking data from different systems to conduct integrated analyses that have not been possible in the past.
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