This guide provides information about locating reputable health statistics, including a thought roadmap, search strategies, and links to datasets.
It is created and monitored by the DHSS Library.
What do I need to know about my topic before I start looking for statistics?No matter the subject, statistics are limited by both time frame and geography.
Time: Are you looking for information about a single point in time? Do you want to look at changes over time? Do you need historical information? Current information?
Be prepared that the most current statistics may actually be a year or more old! There can be multiple year lags before some information is released depending on how often the information is collected, the time it takes to process and crunch numbers, and the public release schedule.
Geography: Geographical areas can be defined by political boundaries (nations, states, counties, cities) or statistical boundaries (mainly Census geography such as metropolitan statistical areas, block groups, or tracts).
Remember to define your topic with enough flexibility to adapt to available information!
Ask yourself: Who might collect or publish this type of information?
Then visit the organization’s website and see if you're right!
These are some of the main producers of statistical information:
Look for statistics reported in journal, news, and magazine articles. If they report a source, be sure to follow it up!
By searching periodical indexes, you can determine if anyone has conducted research into your area of inquiry. You may turn up a journal article with statistical tables on your topic, or you may find out that you have chosen such a unique topic that little to no research exists in that area. Maybe you can be flexible with your topic and find a similar substitute.
Think about where to search and which keywords to use.
Use the Delaware Library Catalog to find books with statistical tables.
Statistical publications will always include the keyword "statistics" in the subject information about the book. For example:
Education -- Statistics.
Health insurance -- Delaware-- Statistics.
Delaware-- Statistics.
Knowing this, you can use a technique for limiting your search to statistical publications by doing a subject search for your topic.
Knowing when to call in reinforcements is important.
Contact the DHSS Library at DHSSLibrary@delaware.gov.
Keep in mind that one possible reason nothing is turning up is that the statistic you need was never collected!
Be flexible and consider alternative measures.
Don't take statistics at face value. Consider the source and method used to create the statistics.
Be a critical information consumer!
Statistics should be cited just like any other source you consult.
On the Google Trends homepage, you can explore Trending Stories in real time by category and location. In some locations, you’ll also see featured stories at the top of the page that are curated by the News Lab at Google to provide you with additional insights found in the data. This page may not open using the Internet Explorer browser.
Calculating and Reporting Healthcare Statistics by
"Calculating and Reporting Healthcare Statistics, sixth edition, is a comprehensive resource intended for healthcare professionals and students seeking to understand or sharpen their statistical computation skills. The text is organized around exercises and examples that are presented extensively using Excel calculation displays.Susan White, PhD, RHIA, CHDA,brings her expertise in the area of analyzing healthcare data to this valuable reference. Topics are updated to explore the current healthcare industry, basic math and statistical computations, vital statistics and mortality rates, census and occupancy rates, and more, all in accordance with AHIMA curriculum domains for statistics. "--Publisher information.
Introduction to Health Research Methods by
Designed to empower new investigators to conduct their own original research projects, the third edition of Introduction to Health Research Methods: A Practical Guide leads the reader step-by-step in performing quantitative and qualitative research in medicine, public health, and other clinical and population health fields. Organized in five sections, the text covers the entire research process from formulating a study question and selecting a study approach to collecting and analyzing data and then disseminating the findings. Chapters about methods for primary studies (collecting new data), secondary analyses (analyzing existing data), and tertiary studies (conducting literature reviews and meta-analyses) provide comprehensive coverage of the scope of health research. By breaking the research process down into a series of achievable steps, Introduction to Health Research Methods shows students and early career scholars how they can contribute to improving the health of individuals and communities through research.The Third Edition has been significantly updated to include:- Expanded coverage of qualitative research methods, including new chapters on qualitative study design, data collection, and data analysis.- Additional glossary terms that clarify key terminology for all stages of the research process and a diversity of study approaches.- Enhanced explanations of how to select and implement quantitative and qualitative research and analysis methodologies. - New and updated coverage of topics such as framing research questions, developing testable hypotheses, defining specific aims, responsibly conducting research, selecting study designs, minimizing bias, applying theoretical paradigms, ensuring rigor and reproducibility, conducting quality assessment, managing grants, and more.
Monitoring the Health of Populations by Tracking Disease Outbreaks by
With COVID-19 sweeping across the globe with near impunity, it is thwarting governments and health organizations efforts to contain it. Not since the 1918 Spanish Flu have citizens of developed countries experienced such a large-scale disease outbreak that is having devastating health and economic impacts. One reason such outbreaks are not more common has been the success of the public health community, including epidemiologists and biostatisticians, in identifying and then mitigating or eliminating the outbreaks. Monitoring the Health of Populations by Tracking Disease Outbreaks: Saving Humanity from the Next Plague is the story of the application of statistics for disease detection and tracking. The work of public health officials often crucially depends on statistical methods to help discern whether an outbreak may be occurring and, if there is sufficient evidence of an outbreak, then to locate and track it. Statisticians also help collect critical information, and they analyze the resulting data to help investigators zero in on a cause for a disease. With the recent outbreaks of diseases such as swine and bird flu, Ebola, and now COVID-19, the role that epidemiologists and biostatisticians play is more important than ever. Features: · Discusses the crucial roles of statistics in early disease detection. · Outlines the concepts and methods of disease surveillance. · Covers surveillance techniques for communicable diseases like Zika and chronic diseases such as cancer. · Gives real world examples of disease investigations including smallpox, syphilis, anthrax, yellow fever, and microcephaly (and its relationship to the Zika virus). Via the process of identifying an outbreak, finding its cause, and developing a plan to prevent its reoccurrence, this book tells the story of how medical and public health professionals use statistics to help mitigate the effects of disease. This book will help readers understand how statisticians and epidemiologists help combat the spread of such diseases in order to improve public health across the world.
A Practical Approach to Analyzing Healthcare Data 4e by
Does the number of children gunned down double each year? Does anorexia kill 150,000 young women annually? Do white males account for only a sixth of new workers? Startling statistics shape our thinking about social issues. But all too often, these numbers are wrong. This book is a lively guide to spotting bad statistics and learning to think critically about these influential numbers. Damned Lies and Statistics is essential reading for everyone who reads or listens to the news, for students, and for anyone who relies on statistical information to understand social problems. Joel Best bases his discussion on a wide assortment of intriguing contemporary issues that have garnered much recent media attention, including abortion, cyberporn, homelessness, the Million Man March, teen suicide, the U.S. census, and much more. Using examples from the New York Times, the Washington Post, and other major newspapers and television programs, he unravels many fascinating examples of the use, misuse, and abuse of statistical information. In this book Best shows us exactly how and why bad statistics emerge, spread, and come to shape policy debates. He recommends specific ways to detect bad statistics, and shows how to think more critically about "stat wars," or disputes over social statistics among various experts. Understanding this book does not require sophisticated mathematical knowledge; Best discusses the most basic and most easily understood forms of statistics, such as percentages, averages, and rates. This accessible book provides an alternative to either naively accepting the statistics we hear or cynically assuming that all numbers are meaningless. It shows how anyone can become a more intelligent, critical, and empowered consumer of the statistics that inundate both the social sciences and our media-saturated lives.
Understanding Statistics and Experimental Design by
This open access textbook provides the background needed to correctly use, interpret and understand statistics and statistical data in diverse settings. Part I makes key concepts in statistics readily clear. Parts I and II give an overview of the most common tests (t-test, ANOVA, correlations) and work out their statistical principles. Part III provides insight into meta-statistics (statistics of statistics) and demonstrates why experiments often do not replicate. Finally, the textbook shows how complex statistics can be avoided by using clever experimental design. Both non-scientists and students in Biology, Biomedicine and Engineering will benefit from the book by learning the statistical basis of scientific claims and by discovering ways to evaluate the quality of scientific reports in academic journals and news outlets.