Success of Statistical Service Leads to
Expanded Network
S
TATCOM (Statistics in the coordinator. The responsibilities of this position include
Community) is a student-run organiza- maintaining communication among STATCOM Network
tion that provides pro bono statistical members, generating interest in STATCOM at new universities,
consulting services to local government and and writing the semiannual STATCOM Network Newsletter.
nonprofit organizations. Originally estab- As new STATCOM members within the network become
lished in 2001 by Nels Grevstad, a statistics established, this position will rotate from one university to the
doctoral student at Purdue University, next, allowing students throughout the network to benefit from
STATCOM has grown each year to meet taking a leadership role.
the demand for statistical consulting on a The first STATCOM Network Newsletter became avail-
local level. Since 2005, STATCOM has able in January, and can be found at
www.amstat.org/education/
The first STATCOM expanded from a single organization at statcom/Newsletters.htm. This newsletter is an excellent means of
Network Newsletter Purdue University to a network of eight communication, not only for members within the STATCOM
individual STATCOMs at universities in Network, but for the public interested in pro bono community
this country and abroad. And this number grows each year. work. Updates about current and past projects, challenges faced by
In addition to the projects taken on by STATCOM organizations developing STATCOMs, advice and suggestions from established
within the network, there have been several exciting network-wide STATCOMs, and photos are all featured in the newsletter.
developments in the past year. At the Joint Statistical Meetings in The growth of the STATCOM Network in the past two
August of 2007, the STATCOM Network Business Meeting pro- years has been impressive, and as more universities and student
vided a forum for representatives from each STATCOM to meet volunteers become involved, the enduring benefits of STATCOM
one another and discuss voting points, including the STATCOM involvement in communities throughout the world will become
Network mission and vision statements and continued develop- more pronounced. For more information about the STATCOM
ment of the STATCOM Network framework. Network, visit
www.amstat.org/education/statcom or contact
In 2007, the expansion of the STATCOM Network led to STATCOM Network Outreach Coordinator Andrea Rau at
the creation of the position of STATCOM network outreach
statcom-outreach@stat.purdue.edu. n
NHIS Paradata Released to Public
I
n January 2008, the National Center for inappropriate, inaccurate entries of cases in which the interview-
Health Statistics (NCHS) released the responses by interviewers. The CHI er was unable to make per-
first annual file of paradata data about the is a stand-alone, Blaise-based instru- sonal contact with anyone
survey collection process from the National ment that first went into produc- in the household, as well as
Health Interview Survey (NHIS). The NHIS tion with the 2004 NHIS. Interviewers are cases where the interview was refused).
is an ongoing, cross-sectional, in-person sur- instructed to make a CHI entry each time an The publicly released NHIS paradata
vey of the U.S. noninstitutionalized civilian attempt is made to contact a household. CHI file contains a subset of the paradata col-
population. A new year of regular NHIS data have been used by NCHS researchers lected by the NHIS. The newly released
microdata is publicly released every June, to explore survey contact, cooperation, and 2006 paradata file contains data on mode
fewer than six months after the end of the nonresponse bias. Questions asked of the of interview, assessed cooperativeness of the
survey year. This first publicly released para- interviewers after the interview include que- respondent, reasons for partial interviews,
data file derives from the 2006 NHIS. ries about whether any main sections of the strategies used to gain participation, etc.
Paradata can be used to study the sur- interview were administered primarily by It may be used as a stand-alone data file
vey process and assess and improve survey telephone. (Interviewers are permitted to use or linked to the regular public use NHIS
quality. Three sources of NHIS paradata the telephone when necessary to complete the 2006 health data files (which were released
are audit trails from the Blaise instrument initial in-person interview.) NCHS research- in June 2007).
used to administer the questionnaire, the ers have used this information to monitor Now, researchers outside NCHS have
NHIS Contact History Instrument (CHI), the use of the telephone and to explore the the opportunity to analyze these valuable
and a section at the back of the survey impact of mode of survey administration on paradata. The 2006 public use paradata
instrument reserved for questions asked of key health estimates. file and supporting documentation can
the interviewers. Note that NHIS paradata include be found at
www.cdc.gov/nchs/about/major/
NHIS audit trails have been used by records for nonresponding households (i.e., nhis/2006paradata.htm. n
NCHS researchers to identify occasional NHIS paradata contain information about
22 AMSTAT NEWS APRIL 2008
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