Studies

HSRC’s studies range from short-term single mode data collection to multi-year multi-mode data collection and follow-up. HSRC assists health research investigators in but is not limited to the following types of survey studies:

• Longitudinal studies
• Case-Control studies
• Complex multi-mode studies
• Tracking lost participants
• Single mode studies
• Pilot Studies

HSRC’s central function is to advance excellence in survey research support in health related research. Services are offered on a fee for service basis.

Study FAQs

HSRC develops frequently asked questions (FAQ) for each study we support. This is done to quickly provide consistent responses to participants when they call in with study questions. For a brief discussion and some sample questions on study FAQ's.
More About Study FAQ's (doc)

Current Studies/Projects

A sample of some current research studies/projects that HSRC is supporting is identified here with the principal investigators’ agreement. HSRC support for each study/project is negotiated with the principal investigator and tailored to the specific needs of the study.

CARDIA (Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults) Study

The CARDIA study is in its 20th year and is currently conducting its 7th major in-clinic exam of all available participants. At year 15, 74 percent of surviving participants attended the clinic visit, a successful participation rate given the age of the participants (18-30 years at baseline). CARDIA is making major contributions to science and medicine in areas as diverse as trends in weight gain, subclinical heart disease detection and genetics of cardiovascular risk factors. Nearly 200 scientific papers have been published from the study in major peer-reviewed journals. The University of Minnesota is one of four major Field Centers for the entire CARDIA study. The Coordinating Center for CARDIA is located at the University of Alabama-Birmingham. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of NIH has funded CARDIA since 1983.

HSRC is involved with many aspects of the CARDIA study at the University of Minnesota. HSRC conducts multi-annual mailings to all participants. We have approximately 1400 active participants to follow on an on-going basis. We conduct telephone follow-up surveys and address updates every six months as well as interim health status surveillance. We are responsible for scheduling the clinic exams for all participants. We conduct extensive tracking work to locate participants we cannot reach via phone or mail. We also have a 1-800 line set up specifically for CARDIA participants to contact us throughout the year, both during clinic years as well as off-clinic years. The principal investigator at the University of Minnesota is Pamela Schreiner, PhD, in the Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, School of Public Health. CARDIA has a public access Web site at http://www.cardia.dopm.uab.edu/

College Treatment Study - CTST
Traci Toomey Principal Investigator
Mark Miazga Coordinator

Alcohol use among young adults is associated with problems such as fatal traffic crashes, unintentional injuries, and academic problems (Benton et al., 2006; Hingson et al., 2005). Young adults who abuse or are dependent on alcohol have the highest individual risk of experiencing problems. To reduce alcohol use and alcohol-related problems among young adults, we need to identify and implement quality treatment and interventions (e.g., brief/motivational interventions) targeting young adults at highest risk. College campuses are one potential location for comprehensive systems targeting alcohol problems among young adults. This is a two-year study to assess the quality and comprehensiveness of systems to treat and prevent alcohol misuse and abuse among young adults. Among four-year colleges, we are assessing: (1) current capacity for alcohol treatment/intervention, (2) quality of alcohol screening/intervention/treatment programs, (3) comprehensiveness and integration of systems for addressing alcohol-related issues, and (4) effectiveness of campus alcohol task forces in working to develop and improve these systems. Among other post-secondary institutions, we are assessing: (1) prevalence of screening and referral procedures for alcohol-related problems, and (2) prevalence and quality of prevention programs and policies. 

 HSRC is programming and fielding online survey assessments for (1) Administrators at four-year colleges/universities, (2) Health care directors at four-year colleges/universities, (3) Law enforcement officials at four-year colleges/universities, and (4) Administrators at two-year schools. HSRC is sending email invitations and reminders to participants and monitoring questions that arise.

Eating Among Teens Round 3 - EAT 3
Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, Ph.D. - Principal Investigator

Project EAT 3, aims to enhance our understanding of environmental, personal, and behavioral factors that influence weight status and related behaviors, including weight control behaviors, dietary intake, and physical activity, during adolescence and young adulthood. This 5-year project will start with a holiday card mailing to the original participants in Dec 2007. In fall of 2008 a Project EAT survey and a food frequency questionnaire will be sent to the original participants following the Dillman method. In the fall of 2009, EAT staff will recruit a new cohort of participants and administer Project EAT surveys and food frequency questionnaires in Minnesota middle schools and high schools. EAT staff will also complete height and weight measurements with the new cohort in schools. A subsample of the original participants will be invited to have their height and weight measurements taken at the University of Minnesota.

HSRC will coordinate with printing and mailing vendors to order all supplies and assembly for the mailings. The electronic log, originally created by HSRC, will be updated from the previous EAT projects to hold new tracking and mailing information. HSRC and EAT staff will both perform logging tasks on the log. Editing, coding and data entry will be done by HSRC along with incentive mailings. Batch and manual tracking will be done on participants lost to follow up.

For more information, click here to link to the Project EAT website: http://www.epi.umn.edu/research/eat/

GLB College Student Survey—PILOT
Marla Eisenberg – Principal Investigator

New methods are needed to access hidden populations of young people. This study’s primary aim is to use the Internet as a tool in Respondent Driven Sampling and explore characteristics of the resulting sample of 60 gay, lesbian and bisexual (GLB) college students. “Seeds” at each college will be asked to forward an e-mail invitation to ten undergraduate students, and each student will be asked to forward the e-mail invitation to three additional students. A survey will be developed for computerized administration at a secure website, using specialized software. The survey will include items regarding sexual orientation, GLB characteristics, HIV-related behaviors and demographics. Descriptive analysis will focus on examination of the GLB characteristics of “outness” and involvement in the GLB community. Additional analysis will compare demographic characteristics and HIV risk behaviors in the current sample to random samples of GLB college students to determine the representativeness of the current sample.

HealthWorks (HLW)
Robert Jeffery PhD – Principal Investigator
Jennifer Linde PhD – Project Director

The HealthWorks Project (HLW) addresses the critical issue of rising obesity rates in the U.S. adult population by providing support for healthy eating and exercise behaviors in the work environment. Six worksites randomly selected from businesses employing 200+ workers in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area are randomly assigned to either: a) participation in a weight screening and survey of weight and health, or b) survey participation plus a worksite weight gain prevention program. HSRC helped begin baseline data collection at the first site in February 2006 and will continue to the sixth site in March 2007. At baseline, all participants are presented with a password and instructions for completing an online survey created by HSRC, and are offered the option of completing the survey on paper as well. During the follow-up portion, the same participants will take the online or paper survey again. With the support of HSRC’s Internet survey tool, HSRC developed and maintains a web-based survey. Participants’ personal information is kept confidential while their answer choices remain anonymous. HSRC also created a database to track both Internet and paper surveys and generates weekly completion reports. The majority of participants have chosen to complete the survey online and anecdotal evidence suggests that this format has been well received.

To find out more about HealthWorks, you can email the research team at: healthworks@epi.umn.edu

Hepatoblastoma Origins & Pediatric Epidemiology - HOPE
Dr. Logan Spector - Principal Investigator

The goal of the study is to conduct the largest case-control study of hepatoblastoma (a rare liver tumor in children). Participants will be mothers of children diagnosed with this tumor (n=600) and mothers of children not diagnosed with this tumor (n=720). Cases diagnosed in 2000-2008 will come from United States Children’s Oncology Group institutions. Controls will be recruited from rosters obtained from United States birth registries and will be frequency matched on birth weight, sex, year of birth, and region.

The PI’s staff is responsible for recruiting the case and control mothers into the study. HSRC then conducts an hour-long phone interview with each mother. HSRC worked on developing the phone interview in CATI, conducted pretest interviews, and assisted in creation of an electronic log and on-going maintenance. The PI is Dr. Logan Spector, Ph.D., and the funding is received through NIH.

Find out more at: www.cancer.umn.edu/hopestudy
Dr. Spector can be reached at: www.med.umn.edu/peds/epi/faculty/spector/

The Internet Study - PINTS
Keith J. Horvath, Ph.D. - Principal Investigator

The purpose of this study is to understand 1) the needs of individuals who have been recently diagnosed with HIV and 2) how they use the Internet before and after their diagnosis to inform the development of an online resource. HSRC staff will conduct hour-long qualitative interviews with study participants that will provide a rich source of information across a number of sensitive topics in the domains described above. Consistent with qualitative data collection, all interviews will be recorded and analyzed for themes. In addition, HSRC staff already have conducted pilot interview to identify procedures requiring refinement prior to commencing the full study.

Minnesota Adolescent Community Cohort Study - MACC
Jean Forster, Ph.D. - Principal Investigator

The Minnesota Adolescent Community Cohort (MACC) Study is designed to measure the effects of tobacco prevention and control programs on youth tobacco use in the state of Minnesota. Every six months, youth are interviewed via telephone about their attitudes and practices regarding tobacco use and related issues. The original sample in 2000 consisted of over 4,000 teens who were 12-16 years old. Participants are paid $15 for each interview they complete. Clearwater Research, a for-profit research company in Idaho contracted by the University of Minnesota, conducts the phone interviews and the initial tracking of participants who have moved or changed phone numbers. Any participants that Clearwater cannot locate or reach quickly are transferred to HSRC for further tracking. Clearwater transfers approximately 130 and 180 such cases per month to HSRC, and HSRC has roughly 15 days to track the participants. HSRC emails updated information to Clearwater throughout the tracking process. To ensure confidentiality of participants, all files sent via email for tracking purposes are password protected.
http://www.epi.umn.edu/research/macc/survey.shtm

Predictors of Adult Leukemia in Minnesota - PALM
Julie Ross, Ph.D. – Principal Investigator
Michelle Roesler – Coordinator

PALM is a statewide case-control study being funded by the NIH. Little is know about the causes of adult myeloid leukemia (AML). Minnesota has one of the highest rates of leukemia in the United States. This study is working to better understand the etiology of this leukemia, which may lead to more effective cancer prevention strategies. Participants, ages 20-79, are asked to fill out a survey and complete a cheek cell sample. HSRC is working to check up on participants after they receive the survey, to complete surveys over the phone, and to answer any questions regarding the cheek cell sample. The survey asks questions about family health history, chemical exposures, daily health habits, and medication usage.

For more information on PALM, please visit the following site:
www.cancer.umn.edu/research/programs/pepalm.html

SKIN Health Study
DeAnn Lazovich, MPH, PhD - Principal Investigator

The goal of the study is learn about the causes of Melanoma by conducting the largest study of its kind. This is a case-control study. Cases are received from the MN Department of Health, MN Cancer surveillance system. The controls are drawn from the MN Drivers License list. Participants are sent an introductory letter, and then called to participate. They are then sent a paper survey to fill out and return. Then an hour-long phone interview is conducted with the participant.

HSRC is responsible for mailing all materials, making the recruitment calls, and conductingthe phone interviews. HSRC also worked on a pilot for the study, eveloped the CATI interview and coding instrument, creation and maintenance of the electronic log, and does all data entry for the study. The PI is Dr. DeAnn Lazovich, Ph.D., and the fundingis through NIH.

The Tobacco Enforcement Survey - TES
Nick Puente - Principal Investigator
Gene Anderson - Coordinator

The Tobacco Enforcement Survey is a study conducted for the Department of Health and Human Services. Each year the Sheriff from each county in Minnesota and a sample of 103 city police Chiefs are contacted and asked a series of questions related to tobacco enforcement. First all participants are sent a self-administered survey. Roughly 4 weeks later all participants who have not returned a survey are called to complete the survey over the phone.

The data gathered by this survey is required for federal funding of various programs related to tobacco enforcement and education. The Department of Health and Human Services has contracted HSRC to conduct the data collection for this study since 2000.

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Past Studies/Projects

A sample of some past research studies/projects that HSRC has supported is identified here with the principal investigators’ agreement. With the principal investigators’ agreement, included are web sites or addresses for obtaining a copy of available results of the study.

Association for Non-Smokers - ANSR
ANSR (Association for Non Smokers – MN)
is an addition to the PEAC study. The PEAC (Program Evaluation Assistance Center) was created in order to assist local county health agencies and population at risk agencies.

In July 2005 HSRC worked with Association for Non Smokers Rights (ANSR). The starting N = 900 (600 random selection of Ramsey county with an over-sample of 300 Ramsey county residents from the top 3 census blocks with African Americans and Asians. HSRC provided assistance with survey wording and flow and re-formatted the survey in Word. For this project HSRC handled all survey administration tasks (ordered all supplies, mailing, logging, editing, data entry, and summary spreadsheet and report).

The ANSR study involved a 1st survey mailing (with non personalized cover letter and American flag lapel pin), reminder postcard, and 2nd survey mailing to non-responders. An electronic log was used (not FileMaker) and data entry staff logged final status codes for returned surveys. The non-responders were extracted one time for the 2nd survey mailing.

ANSR-2
Jean Forster, Ph.D., M.P.H.- Principal Investigator

In July 2006 HSRC worked again with the Association for Non Smokers (ANSR). The starting N = 600 was a random selection of adults from drivers’ license records of those listing a Ramsey County address. HSRC provided assistance with survey wording and flow and re-formatted the survey in Word. For this project HSRC handled all survey administration tasks (ordered all supplies, mailing, logging, editing, data entry, and prepared summary spreadsheet and reports).

The ANSR-2 study involved a 1st survey mailing (with non personalized cover letter and incentive of $1 bill), reminder postcard, and 2nd survey mailing to non-responders. The non-responders were extracted one time for the 2nd survey mailing.
A paper log was used and then data entry staff logged final status codes for returned surveys. The data entry staff also entered all completed survey data.

Alcohol Risk Management - ARM
ARM stands for Alcohol Risk Management. The principal researcher on this study is Dr. Traci Toomey. The study consisted of a 15-minute telephone survey of 288 Minneapolis bars and restaurant owners and managers. We contacted these managers at work to discuss their own experiences with trainings and rules regarding their alcohol serving policies.

HSRC was responsible for conducting the telephone interview surveys as well as all editing and coding of the completed surveys. HSRC also conducted an ARM study survey in 2002. Both years we had approximately an 88 percent completion rate for our given sample.
www.epi.umn.edu/alcohol/projects/index.shtm

DIET
Dr. Mark Pereira - Principal Investigator

This project is a web screener survey for a nutrition study. Participants were recruited through ads in the local and campus paper. The advertisement directed participants to a Web site for further information. This Web site includes a link to this web survey. Participants take the survey and then the survey determines if they are eligible for the nutrition study.

EAT I
The research staff administered the surveys to middle and high school students in the Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Osseo school districts in Minnesota. Students completed a food frequency questionnaire and the Project EAT Student Survey. The research team developed the Project EAT Student Survey. After completion of the surveys, height and weight measurements were collected from students by the research staff privately using a standardized protocol. HSRC staff entered the student survey data and provided a final data file.

PI: Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, Ph.D., University of Minnesota, School of Public Health, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health
www.epi.umn.edu/research/eat/

EAT II
In the original study, the participants had written their name, address, and at least one parent's name on the original survey. HSRC keying staff entered the addresses for the follow-up survey, about 5 years after the original study. The follow-up study had a reduced sample size by 410 due to duplicates, mismatched locator/ID, or missing name/address information. During April 2003-June 2004, 4,336 food frequency forms and a young adult and high school surveys were mailed. The Don Dillman Tailored Design Method was used for the survey mailings. Incentives were used for the study. The mailings included a pre-letter mailing, 1st survey mailing, reminder postcard, a 2nd survey mailing, a federal express mailing, and a final survey mailing.

The surveys were divided into 6 waves. If a piece of mail was returned from wave 1, the piece of mail was tracked and that person was moved to the beginning of the next wave. Waves 7 and 8 were added later for re-mailings to participants that had moved. Two final wave mailings A and B were also added to attempt to boost response rate. Wave A included non-responders from waves 1-4 and wave B included non-responders from waves 5-8. The goal of a 60 percent response rate was achieved.

The Project EAT results have contributed to the literature across the following topic areas: dieting and weight control behaviors amongst adolescents, obesity prevention in adolescent girls, the psycho-social well-being amongst overweight adolescents, and adolescent eating disorders.

PI: Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, Ph.D., University of Minnesota, School of Public Health, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health. For more information, click here to link to the Project EAT Web site: www.epi.umn.edu/research/eat/

EAT II Tracking Follow-up Project
A postcard was mailed to all EAT2 participants who completed the last survey and all other participants for whom we had potentially valid addresses.

The purpose of the follow-up tracking project was to keep in contact with the participants by using their latest addresses/emails in order to be able to survey them again in 2007/2008. There was no manual tracking of participants or re-mailing of postcards if they were returned.

HSRC was responsible for creating and programming the log and coordinating the mailing with printing services and address/mailing services at UM. We were also responsible for all logging of returned mail and processing undeliverables through an outside tracking service and updating the log for the EAT2 team.

For more information, click here to link to the Project EAT Web site: www.epi.umn.edu/research/eat/

Minnesota School Nurses - MSN
Marti Kubik - Principal Investigator

Marti Kubik is in the School of Nursing. The purpose of the Minnesota School Nurses study is to explore the opinions of health professionals (school nurses) and assess their support for the prevention and treatment of childhood overweight/obesity issues. Topics include: opinions/observations/behaviors regarding personal health, nutrition and exercise and school nursing practices and opinions/beliefs regarding childhood obesity. This is a mailed survey of approximately 275 participants.

HSRC is responsible for mailing, logging, batching and data entry for all MSN surveys. There will be two survey mailings, one with an incentive and a separate postcard mailing as a reminder to complete the survey. The last completed surveys will be accepted by HSRC in December 2005.

MN Telehealth Inventory 2007 -MTI7
Stuart Speedie Ph.D.- Principal Investigator

The purpose of the MTI7 study is to learn more about how telemedicine is used in the state of Minnesota. Site and contact information respondents provide in the survey will be used to help build an online, publicly available database of health care sites in Minnesota which use telemedicine.

Starting N = 1500. There will be one survey mailing. The survey mailing will include a personalized cover letter, survey, courtesy reply envelope with postage paid. A postcard will be mailed 1 week after the first survey mailing to the entire sample. HSRC will be responsible for setting up the tracking database to keep track of completes and undeliverables, coordination with Printing Services and Addressing and Mailing on the survey and postcard assembly and mailings. HSRC will log and batch the completed surveys.

MTI7 study Web site: www.mti.umn.edu/
Health Informatics Division: www.med.umn.edu/hlthinf/
Minnesota Department of Health: www.health.state.mn.us/

Program Evaluation Assistance Center - PEAC
This study stemmed from work conducted through the Program Evaluation Assistance Center, which was created to assist local public health agencies and population at risk agencies with the evaluation for their tobacco prevention programs. HSRC worked with 9 local agencies to help them conduct a mailed survey about secondhand smoke. Each agency mailed surveys to 600 residents in their county, randomly selected from the MN Drivers license list. HSRC trained each agency on how to conduct a mailed survey study, using the format of mailing a survey, then a reminder/thank-you postcard, and then a second survey mailing to non-responders. HSRC also edited and data entered the surveys.

POEMS 2005-2007
Steven Fu, M.D., M.S.C.E.– Principal Investigator

The survey was done with clients of the Minnesota Health Care Programs, N=1973. The survey assessed participants’ experiences with smoking cessation services received in the past year. Participants were male and female from different racial/ethnic backgrounds. HSRC pre-tested the survey, was responsible for all mailing materials, coding/editing, data entry and conducting phone interviews.

All participants were first sent a self-administered survey in the mail. Roughly 2 weeks later they were sent a reminder post card. Roughly 2 weeks after that they were sent a 2nd survey. After another 4 weeks, if we still had not received a survey, we called the participant to do the survey over the phone. The 1st survey includes a $2 bill. The 2nd survey includes a pen. A new wave of 1st survey mailings started every-other month. There were a total of six waves.

Project Northland Chicago - PNC
Kelli A. Komro, MPH, PhD, Associate Professor
Principal Investigator

Project Northland was an efficacy trial with the goal of preventing or reducing alcohol use among young adolescents by using a multi-level, communitywide approach. It was originally conducted in 24 school districts and adjacent communities in northeastern Minnesota from 1991-1994, the intervention targeted 6th-8th grade students. At the end of three years students in the intervention school districts reported less onset and prevalence of alcohol use than those in the reference districts. The project was adapted, implemented and evaluated in urban, multi-ethnic Chicago, Illinois public schools and surrounding neighborhoods from 2002-2005. Sixty-one public schools were recruited to participate and were randomly assigned to intervention or “delayed program” control condition. A cohort of students, beginning in sixth grade, received three years of intervention strategies (curricula, family interventions, youth-led community service projects, community organizing) and participated in yearly surveys to measure their alcohol use and related risk and protective factors.

HSRC has been involved with the PNC project for a number of years. In 2002-2003 HSRC conducted a baseline phone interview with members from 6 types of organizations including religious institutions, park and recreation centers, local school council members, and beat officers. In 2005 HSRC conducted a follow-up interview with these organizations. In 2007 HSRC is doing a large tracking project to find current addresses for about 500 parents involved in the study.

For more information about PNC visit www.epi.umn.edu and enter the search words "project northland."

Pediatric Provider Survey - PPS
Martha Kubik, PhD, MSN, RNC- Principal Investigator

In July 2006 HSRC worked on the Pediatric Provider Survey (PPS) study. The starting N= 700, a sample of active members in the Minnesota Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Minnesota Chapter of the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners. For this project HSRC handled survey administration tasks (ordered all supplies, mailing, logging, editing, and prepared summary spreadsheet and reports). HSRC provided assistance with wording and re-formatted the postcard in Word and developed a paper logging system specifically for this study. HSRC coordinated with Northwest Keypunch on data entry of completed surveys.

The PPS study involved a 1st survey mailing (with non personalized cover letter and incentive of $2 bill), reminder postcard, and 2nd survey mailing to non-responders. The non-responders were extracted one time for the 2nd survey mailing.

Tobacco Free Parks and Recreation Study - TFPR
Tobacco Free Parks and Recreation Study: PI – Jean Forster, PhD. This was a statewide survey that included Park and Recreation directors/managers, Park board members/chairs, community education staff responsible for P&R and other city and county staff responsible for P&R. This was a 15-minute telephone interview with one park staff member and one park board member from each community in our study sample. Topics included: exploring the types of tobacco-free policies currently in existence, barriers to getting policies approved and the types of groups that helped to get policies implemented. We surveyed communities with tobacco-free P&R policies and communities without P&R tobacco-free policies. We completed 258 staff interviews and 172 board interviews over the course of approximately 6 months.

HSRC was responsible for conducting these surveys over the telephone as well as all editing and coding of completed surveys. There was an additional mailed portion to this study that included two survey mailings and a postcard reminder mailing. The compiled research was ultimately cited in areas including newspaper articles discussing various Minnesota communities and their existing (or lacking) tobacco-free park and recreation policies. The further information on tobacco research can be found at: www.epi.umn.edu/research/tobacco/group.shtm

Project I-Star at the University of Southern California - USC
Project I-Star is a longitudinal study at the University of Southern California to evaluate the effectiveness of substance abuse prevention programs implemented in Indianapolis, Indiana and Kansas City, Kansas schools in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. There are roughly 2000 participants, who were 6th and 7th graders in 1987 when the study started. Since then, follow-up interviews are done with the participants every few years.

Participants are sent a self-administered survey (2 times) and asked to either return the survey or do the survey online. After a period of time the participants who have not returned a survey or completed the survey online are called to complete the survey over the phone.

HSRC was contracted by the University of Southern California in 2005 to conduct phone interviews with participants. Nathaniel R. Riggs, Ph.D. an investigator on this study can be contacted at: nriggs@usc.edu

Validation of Internet-based Dietary Assessment - VIDA
Mark Pereira, PhD – Principal Investigator
Jay Desai – Coordinator

Validation of Internet-based Dietary Assessment (VIDA) is a multi-mode study involving a series of extensive Internet surveys and phone interviews. The purpose of this project is to look at new methods to assess the dietary habits of adults using the Internet. HSRC coordinates the Internet segment. HSRC uses an online survey tool to obtain consent and enroll participants. They are then sent emails with a URL asking them to fill out several online surveys over a two to three week period. Participants are asked to fill out checklists in areas such as fruits, beverages, meats, etc. of foods they ate on the previous day. Within each checklist participants select specific foods and are asked about the types and quantities they ate. All parts of the Internet portion of VIDA are programmed and organized by HSRC.