[SAMHDA Announcements] Archive Announcements: Variable-level search, TEDS metro area file, Upcoming releases

[SAMHDA-Announcements]

** New search capability

You can now conduct variable-level searches on our web site for all studies 
on the online data analysis system (DAS). This utility will search the 
question text and variable and value labels for thousands of variables at 
once. This is helpful for finding specific variables (e.g., for studies 
with large numbers of variables or when you don't know which studies 
included a variable you need) and question wording (e.g., for comparisons 
across studies). The results that are returned include hypertext links to:

"List matching variables", which provides links to the matching variables 
in the DAS codebook;
"Study description", which takes you to the abstract for each study where 
matching variables were found;
"Online analysis", which takes you to the initial input screen on the DAS 
for each study with matching variables; and
"Browse and download from archive": takes you to the page from which you 
can download the ASCII data file, SAS and SPSS data definition statements, 
as well as documentation files such as PDF codebooks and questionnaires for 
each matching study.

You may click on "list matching variables" for each study that matches your 
search or go to the bottom of the results page and click on "list matching 
variables for all studies" to produce a single page with the matching 
variables for all studies.

If multiple search terms are entered, the initial search results include 
all studies and variables in which any of the terms were found. These 
results can then be narrowed to include only the variables that include all 
search terms within a single variable. For example: entering the terms 
"cocaine age" will produce a list of studies that include one or both of 
these terms. On the initial results page, you may click "list matching 
variables" for each of the studies in which the terms were found or go to 
the bottom of the page and click "list matching variables for all studies". 
At the top of the next page will be a link for "narrow results with an 
"AND" search". Click on this to produce a list of variables that include 
both search terms. In our example, 24 studies included variables with both 
"cocaine" and "age" (e.g., the variable label "age when first used cocaine" 
in the NHSDAs).

To access this search, click on "Download Data" or "Search" on our homepage 
(http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/SAMHDA). Next, click on "Search for Specific 
Variables". Enter a search term or terms in the window, select whether you 
want to search SAMHDA studies only or all ICPSR studies on the DAS, and hit 
"Search". For a listing of studies on the DAS and therefore included in the 
search, see: http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/ACCESS/sda.html#data.

Please note the following : (1) For searches with numerous hits, the 
results may be slow to load, be patient; (2) Searches are not case 
sensitive; (3) The specific variable search is different from the keyword 
search, which is limited to terms that are included in study abstracts or 
that are found on our web pages; keyword searches do not search codebooks; 
(4) Not all of our studies are on the DAS yet, though we are working toward 
this goal.

** Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) Metropolitan Area File

For assistance in analyzing TEDS data, we have created an Excel spreadsheet 
that includes the Census PMSA, MSA, and NECMA names, codes, and populations 
found in TEDS. This file may be found under the TEDS "Reports and Related 
Sites" link: 
http://www.icpsr.umich.edu:8080/SAMHDA-SERIES/00056.xml#reports, "Estimated 
Population for Metropolitan Areas Included in TEDS". There are two tabs at 
the bottom of the spreadsheet, one lists the metropolitan areas 
alphabetically and the other by population size.

** Upcoming releases

(1) The Alcohol and Drug Services (ADSS) Cost Study is expected to be 
released in early November. The Cost Study involved conducting consistency 
and accuracy checks on selected questionnaire data from Phases I and II of 
the study. Variables were subsequently updated to represent the most 
accurate data available. Additional analysis variables were then created 
using combinations of the revised Phase I and II data, and these variables 
comprise the Cost Study. The upcoming release will also include new Phase I 
and II files with the revised data.

(2) The 2001 Monitoring the Future 8th/10th and 12th grade files are also 
expected to be released in early November.

** Please contact us with any questions regarding these updates or any 
other issues related to SAMHDA.

***********************
SAMHDA is sponsored by the Office of Applied Studies, Substance Abuse and 
Mental Health Services Administration: 
http://www.drugabusestatistics.samhsa.gov/.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archive
"A national resource providing public data access and online analysis"

(888) 741-7242 (toll-free helpline)
(734) 615-9524 (local)
samhda at icpsr.umich.edu  http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/SAMHDA



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