Northeast > Resources > Topic Specific > Assessment and Evaluation > Collecting national sources of data

I know where to go to identify and collect existing local sources of data,* but where do I go to identify and collect national, regional, or state data?

Sometimes high quality local data are available. Often, however, local data are not collated efficiently and can be difficult or time-consuming to analyze. Also, local data are often more useful if they can be compared to data from other localities. Many programs find that their best bet is to review national, state, or regional data, which are widely available and offer a number of benefits. Often these large-scale data sets are available on the Internet or can be ordered at no or low cost by calling the sponsoring agency.

National or regional data can also give you a broad idea of the scope of the problem, even if your community may differ in certain respects. For example, if you look at national survey data on substance use in the last few years you might note a marked increase in marijuana use among youth. Chances are, then, that this trend is also true in your community.

National or state level data can help put your local data in context. A comparison can help you ascertain whether the problem in your community is especially large, or about the same or less than it is elsewhere. Comparing your local data to larger populations can reveal a surprising variety of information that will help you evaluate your efforts.

For example: When a city teen tobacco prevention project wanted to evaluate its multi-year efforts, it was surprised to see that there had been no change in tobacco use over several years. However, when the project compared the results from the city survey to results from a survey of students across the state, a different picture emerged. The city's students had a lower rate of tobacco use than students did across the state. More importantly, the rates of use increased over time among students across the staff while they remained the same in the city. This indicated that the prevention programs in the city might well have had a positive effect-even though use had not declined.

The table below contains selected sources of national, state, and regional data.

Go to the FAQ on existing sources of national data http://www.captus.samhsa.gov/northeast/resources/faqs/faq32.cfm

This FAQ is derived from the Northeast CAPT's training manual Assessment: A Vital Pre-Planning Activity http://www.captus.samhsa.gov/northeast/services/f2ftraining/assessment1.cfm by Wayne Harding.

Please contact the Northeast CAPT at capt@edc.org for more information.