Skip to main content

Survey Data Collection, Design, and Analysis

SHADAC faculty and staff are nationally recognized experts in the collection and use of survey data with unparalleled expertise in analyzing federal survey data, specifically. SHADAC offers direct technical support to states interested in primary data collection. Most notably, we have worked collaboratively with the State of Minnesota to conduct the Minnesota Health Access (MNHA) since the 1990s. In addition, we support clients in using federal survey data to address policy questions, monitor their uninsured population, support evaluation, and fill other critical information gaps.

Below, you'll find examples of SHADAC projects and blogs in this area of expertise.

Related SHADAC Projects

On-Demand Analysis of Federal Survey Data

On a task-by-task basis, SHADAC conducts quantitative analyses for the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) using a broad array of federal survey data to inform a variety of issues affecting Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Examples of survey data sources include the American Community Survey (ACS), National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH), National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), and Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), among others.

SHADAC researchers and staff execute diverse statistical methods ranging from simple descriptive statistics and t-tests to multivariate logistic regression and maintain Special Sworn Status to facilitate access and use of restricted data at the Minnesota Census Research Data Center (MnRDC). SHADAC assists MACPAC in scaling work to meet their information needs, producing sound estimates, developing documentation that supports the reproducibility of results over time, and providing support for report writing, creation, and dissemination.

Our work has contributed to a wide range of MACPAC products, including:

Minnesota Health Access (MNHA) Survey

The Minnesota Health Access (MNHA) survey is a statewide web and telephone survey that collects information on health care access and health insurance coverage in Minnesota. The survey dates back to 1990, and has been conducted biennially in partnership between SHADAC and the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) since 2001.

Specifically, the survey collects data on the health of Minnesotans and how they access health insurance and health care services. The data are also used to monitor rates of insurance coverage and uninsurance across different groups of Minnesotans (e.g., geographic, income, ethnicity, etc.), and these groups’ experiences using care to determine specific barriers, challenges, or inequities Minnesotans are facing in the health care system.

The data and information from this survey is used to inform policy that can help improve health care access for all Minnesotans, with reports and other products available communicating results and trends. You can find one of SHADAC’s latest products analyzing MNHA data here, and find more reports and information on MDH’s website.

State Health Compare (SHC)

SHADAC’s State Health Compare, supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, is an interactive online data tool that allows users to easily obtain state-level datasets and estimates on a range of topics related to health and health care.

Analysts, policymakers, journalists, students, and more can use State Health Compare to view individual measures of health insurance coverage, as well as measures housed under larger aggregate categories including health care access, health care costs, utilization, behaviors, and outcomes. State Health Compare also includes pertinent social and economic measures related to health.

State Health Compare hosts more than 45 measures with estimates available over time, allowing users to track trends and impacts of major events on health measures, coverage, and behaviors. These measures are drawn from over 15 different data sources, including surveys (such as the ACS, CPS, BRFSS, NHIS, MEPS, and more) and administrative records (such as vital statistics data, BLS data, and more). SHADAC researchers routinely update State Health Compare with the latest data, ensuring the information is both accurate and accessible. Click here for a full list of measures, data sources, and data years currently available.

State Health Compare allows users to compare these measures across states and look at trends over time through user-generated maps, bar charts, trend lines, and tables. Users can also break down these measures by a number of demographic characteristics, including age, race/ethnicity, income level, insurance coverage type, presence of a child in the household, disability status, and more. Find a full list of measure breakdowns here.

Researchers at SHADAC use State Health Compare to perform analyses, write blogs, create infographics, and more. Recent product examples include a blog which uses SHC’s ‘Forgone Care Due to Cost’ measure to understand more about disparities in forgone care, and another brief examines American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) experiences in a health policy context, using SHC’s ‘Health Insurance Coverage Type’ measure to follow insurance coverage vs uninsurance rates for AIAN peoples over time.

Data User Support and Technical Assistance

SHADAC provides a critical role in the health research community by delivering tailored, one-on-one technical assistance to researchers, policymakers, journalists and media outlets, and others.

TA work varies and is tailored to each partner based on the information they are looking for, the data they are working with, and more. Some examples of TA work include:

  • Using ACS data to provide estimates of health insurance coverage of Black/African-American adults by to support race-concordant perinatal care for Black families;
  • Using CPS data to provide estimates of medical out-of-pocket spending by poverty level and coverage type to help staff at Covered California, the state’s health insurance Marketplace;
  • Advising on how to correctly interpret and describe statistics on the landscape of employer-sponsored insurance;
  • Provide guidance on how to word survey questions to best measure changes in Medicaid.

Our staff offers technical assistance using a variety of datasets and surveys. Just some of the surveys and datasets we often work with include:

SHADAC also assists data users by producing timely, relevant, and high-quality methodological resources, such as instructional products on using State Health Compare to perform significance testing. Learn more about SHADAC’s methodological resources on our Research Methods Support page.

State Alternatives for Health Data Continuity Project

The federal government has long played a leading role in collecting and publishing data on key health policy and public health issues in the United States. Recent developments, however, have resulted in uncertainty about whether the federal government will continue to collect and publish various important data sources used by researchers, policymakers, and other stakeholders.

In response to that uncertainty, SHADAC has embarked on this project, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, called the State Alternatives for Health Data Continuity project. The goal of this project is to investigate what gaps could be created if the federal government were to reduce its investments in collection and publication of survey-based health data, and to understand the feasibility of options for filling potential state-level data gaps.

The project entails a data scan to catalogue health-related question domains available in numerous federal surveys to assess what state-level health data gaps could be created if certain data sources were to become unavailable or less robust.

Additionally, the project includes conversations with a variety of stakeholders—from researchers to state agencies—to assess what health policy and public health challenges could arise from potential data gaps, and what alternatives may be available for filling certain data gaps.

Learn more on the main resource page, where you can also find blogs and resources created as a part of this project.

Past Work

Comparing Health Insurance Measurement Error (CHIME) Study

The CHIME (Comparing Health Insurance Measurement Error) study is an experimental reverse-record check study that compared survey responses to administrative insurance records to understand the magnitude, direction, and patterns of misreporting in two important national surveys conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. Half of the sample was asked the health insurance module from the recently redesigned Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement (CPS), and the other half received the health insurance module from the American Community Survey (ACS). CHIME provides the first post-health reform assessment of the validity of two national survey instruments in capturing health insurance coverage and its sources. CHIME also serves as the first baseline for validation across a range of public and private coverage types in the CPS redesign as well as the first validation study for the ACS. Read more about this study here.

Other CHIME products include the following journal articles: