1
Basic health
statitstics and
survey
Ashenafi BSc, MSc
Chapter Three
Introduction to Health data collection
• Health is influenced by a wide variety of determinants, from an
individual‘s social condition and environment to the health care
services they receive.
• While social and environmental factors are powerful determinants of
health, health care data provides specific and measurable insights into
community and population health interventions.
• Data is collected about both health conditions and related factors
(health data) and services provided (health care data).
• Collecting data in the health care delivery system can be quite
challenging. There are many sources of data (disease indexes, register
data, surveillance data, performance indicators, etc.) that make the
data collection process time consuming.
• Data collection techniques allow us to systematically collect data
about our objects of study (people, objects and phenomena) and
about the setting in which they occur. The best way to collect the data
that needs to be organized or reported is to use the best method
available.
Commonly used data collections methods
• Observation and measurement
• Face-to-face and self-administered interviews (questionnaires or surveys)
• Postal or mail methods and telephone interviews
• Focus group discussions (FGD)
• Use of Documents
• The most appropriate method might be a form, a questionnaire or a survey.
Attention -each of them require adequate pre-planning and design before the
actual data is collected.
selection of the method of data collection
• Data collection method selection should have to be depend on several considerations.
Some of the practical considerations are
1.The need for personnel, skills, equipment, etc. In relation to what is available and the
urgency with which results are needed
2.The acceptability of the procedures to the subject. The absence of inconvenience,
unpleasantness, or untoward consequences
3.The probability that the method will provide a good coverage
• This means the method that will supply the required information about all or almost all
members of the population or sample. If many people will not know the answer to the
question, the question is not an appropriate one.
Data organization
• Data organization, in broad terms, refers to the method of classifying
and organizing data sets to make them more useful. Some IT experts
apply this primarily to physical records, although some types of data
organization can also be applied to digital records.
• There are many ways that IT professionals work on the principle of
data organization. Many of these are classified under the more
general heading of "data management."
• For example, re-ordering or analysing the arrangement of data items
in a physical record is part of data organization.
Data analysis
• Analysis of data is a process of inspecting, cleaning, transforming,
and modeling data with the goal of discovering useful information,
suggesting conclusions, and supporting decision making.
• Data analysis is a process, within which several phases can be
distinguished. Processing of Data Refers to concentrating, recasting
and dealing with data in such a way that they become as amenable to
analysis as possible.
• The purpose of Data Analysis is to answer the questions and to help
and determine the trends and relationships among the variables.
Steps in Data Analysis
• Before Data Collection, the investigator should accomplish
the following:
Determine the method of data analysis
Determine how to process the data
Prepare dummy tables
Process the data
Prepare tables and graphs
Analyse and interpret findings
Consult again the statistician
Prepare for editing
Prepare for presentation
Types of Data analysis
I. Descriptive Analysis: Refers to the description of the data from a particular
sample; Hence the conclusion must refer only to the sample. In other words, these
summarize the data and describe sample characteristics. Descriptive Statistics: Are
numerical values obtained from the sample that gives meaning to the data collected.
II. Inferential type of data Analysis: The use of statistical tests, either to test for
significant relationships among variables or to find statistical support for the
hypotheses is inferential analysis. Inferential Statistics: Are numerical values that
enable the researcher to draw conclusion about a population based on the
characteristics of a population sample. This is based on the laws of probability.
Data interpretation, presentation and
utilization
Interpretation of Data
• After analysis of data and the appropriate statistical procedure, the next
part is to present the interpretation of the data, which is the final step of
data analysis process. The three areas:
I. Summary of Findings
II. Conclusions
III. Recommendations
Data Presentation
There are various methods of data presentation
• Textual Methods of data presentation: The data are presented in the form of
texts, phrases or paragraphs. It is common among newspaper reports depicting
specifically the salient or important findings.
• Graphic display of health data: Frequency distributions and are usually
illustrated graphically by plotting various types of graphs III.
• A tabular method: A table is an organized set of data elements (values) using a
model of vertical columns (which are identified by their name) and horizontal
rows, the cell being the unit where a row and column intersect. A table has a
specified number of columns, but can have any number of rows. Each row is
identified by the values appearing in a particular column subset which has been
identified as a unique key index.
Constructing a table should require some
common issues
• All tables should have a clear title and clear headings for all rows and
columns.
• All tables should have a separate row and a separate column for totals
to enable you to check if your totals are the same for all variables and
to make further analysis easier.
• All tables related to a certain objective should be numbered and kept
together so the work can be easily organized and the writing of the
final report will be simplified.
Data confidentiality
• Data confidentiality is one of the fundamental principles in terms of
security.
• This principle refers protecting information from disclosure to
unauthorized parties.
• When a file is created by a certain user who becomes its owner, for
example, the owner can control who has read access to the file if file
data confidentiality is desired.
Health data utilization
• In a health care setting, you may not have a choice about which type of data
you use depending on the task at hand.
• Primary data has the advantage of being original, reliable and accurate as it
is gathered by you as the researcher so you know first hand that it is correct.
It is also current and timely.
• However, it is also costly to obtain you must allocate time and resources to
conduct a survey, interviews or focus groups. you may have to travel for the
interviews and/or have expenses for mailing surveys, phone calls, etc.
Another disadvantage of using primary data is that the research can be
biased or prejudiced during the gathering and interpretation of data. This
will be discussed later in this module.
• Using secondary data is relatively inexpensive and this type of data is
usually readily available having been collected for various purposes.
• Some disadvantages of secondary data, however, are that the data
may not be complete or may be lacking a piece of information that is
important for your report preparation.
• If that occurs, you may have to merge more than one database or
initiate more data collection. There are usually no costs associated
with secondary data unless an external database must be purchased.
