Using SAMHDA
Are you interested in determining the average age at which men versus women begin smoking? What if you need to know about differences in marijuana use based on age, gender, education, or race? These and countless other questions can be answered by studies in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Data Archive (SAMHDA) data holdings.
SAMHDA is a project of the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR), thus some of the Web links will take you to ICPSR Web pages.
Let's get started...
- Overview
- Terms, formats, and statistical vocabulary
- Searching and finding the data you need
- Accessing data
- Downloading data
- Analyzing data using statistical software
- Online data analysis using SDA
- Producing Quick Tables
- More information
Overview
SAMHDA is an initiative of the Office of Applied Studies, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The goal of the archive is to provide ready access to substance abuse and mental health research data. This will increase the use of data for understanding and assessing substance abuse and mental health problems, as well as the impact of related treatment systems. The data archive is working to expand the variety of file formats in which data are available.
SAMHDA holdings consist mainly of data derived from surveys and administrative records. These data were originally collected for specific research or administrative purposes. However, the data have research potential that outlives the original purposes for which they were collected. SAMHDA preserves these valuable data resources and makes them publicly available for secondary analysis. The SAMHDA data holdings contain over 120 studies and 425 downloadable data files.
The public-use files in the SAMHDA holdings may not always match the original research data. Given the sensitive nature of some data, great lengths are taken to ensure that respondent identity is protected. For this reason, variables that pose an identification (or disclosure) risk are modified or removed from the data file.
For every study archived by SAMHDA, the Web site allows users to download the data set(s) to a personal computer for analysis using their own statistical software. Users can also view or download all available documentation files for the study. In addition, many studies are available to users for online analyses using the online Survey Documentation and Analysis system (SDA). Some SAMHDA studies have an available feature called Quick Tables, which allows users to produce analytic tables by choosing from pre-selected high-interest variables available in drop-down menus.
You will at least need basic statistical skills for using the SDA or Quick Tables systems and more advanced skills for running analyses with your own software. You can view findings that others have published based on SAMHDA holdings by selecting the Related Literature link for any given study on the search results page or at the top of each study description.
