Statistical and Data Services Infrastructure Core

Public Health Institute, Oakland CA

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

COMPONENT 2: THE STATISTICAL AND DATA SERVICES INFRASTRUCTURE CORE - SDSIC (All years).[unreadable] SDSIC will serve as the primary source of biostatistical consulting, analysis, and data management support for[unreadable] the proposed 2006-2010 National Alcohol Center. The Statistical and Data Services (SDS) department is the[unreadable] primary resource for biostatistical support and data management services within ARG and has been in operation[unreadable] at ARG now for over a year. Although the 2001-2005 Center did not explicitly propose an organized method for[unreadable] consolidating such services, the natural evolution of the way in which they have been provided strongly indicated[unreadable] the need for a formal department with varying levels of biostatistical support capabilities. With the direction of[unreadable] SDSIC activities provided by the Senior Biostatistician, the SDSIC will continue to provide these services and will[unreadable] draw heavily on the current SDS department within ARG and the strong working relationships of the SDS[unreadable] department staff. The SDS department currently has 3 biostatistical support personnel, with varying areas of[unreadable] expertise. It also brings on as consultants some of the leaders in several areas of statistical analysis including the[unreadable] analysis of longitudinal data and the design of surveys. Through the efficient consolidation of biostatistical and[unreadable] data management resources, the SDSIC component proposes to support the Center's research goals in 3 ways.[unreadable] First, the biostatistical personnel in the SDSIC will provide biostatistical and analysis support services to each of[unreadable] the Center's research components. This support will be provided throughout the process of survey design,[unreadable] analysis formulation and implementation, and finally to technical document preparation and to Center-related[unreadable] grant development. Second, a new training aim is proposed with the goal of increasing the methodological[unreadable] sophistication of Center researchers through the development and implementation of a series of statistical[unreadable] courses that provide an in-depth study of the motivation, theory, and implementation of some of the cutting-edge[unreadable] biostatistical methods currently in use in the alcohol research field. In addition, Center researchers will also be[unreadable] trained in the use of statistical packages that implement these state-of-the-art methods. These courses have[unreadable] already been offered by current biostatistical personnel in a limited capacity over the 2001-2005 Center period[unreadable] and have been found to be extremely valuable in raising the level of technical functioning of alcohol researchers[unreadable] in their continually evolving field. Third, the SDSIC will serve to provide database maintenance services to the[unreadable] Center research projects. These services will include support for data entry, data security, and training for data[unreadable] analysts in proper ARG programming and data analysis syntax protocols.[unreadable]