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Using the HSC Data Files
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HSC has a commitment to making its survey data available in a timely manner and accessible format. Data from the Community Tracking Study (CTS) and Health Tracking surveys are made available to the public through the Health and Medical Care Archive (HMCA) at the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR). Data files from the following surveys are currently available:
Publicly Available Data Files
| Survey | ICPSR/HMCA Study Number |
|---|---|
| 2010 Health Tracking Household Survey | 34141 |
| 2008 Health Tracking Physician Survey | 27202 |
| 2007 Health Tracking Household Survey | 26001 |
| 2004-05 Physician Survey | 4584 |
| 2003 Household Survey | 4216 |
| 2000-01 Physician Survey | 3820 |
| 2000-01 Household Survey | 3764 |
| 1998-99 Physician Survey | 3267 |
| 1998-99 Household Survey and Followback Survey | 3199 |
| 1997 Employer Survey | 2935 |
| 1996-97 Household Survey and Followback Survey | 2524 |
| 1996-97 Physician Survey | 2597 |
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is the documentation for the data files? All the user's guides and codebooks are available through ICPSR, listed under the relevant study number. Those documents are also available through this web site as HSC Technical Publications, except for the Employer Survey, for which the documentation was produced by RAND and is available only through ICPSR.
Is there technical support available? For technical assistance using the HSC data files (except the Employer Survey), e-mail our help desk at HSCdataHelp@hschange.org. HSCdataHelp is not able to provide assistance for the Employer Survey because RAND (not HSC) produced the data file.
What's the difference between the public use and restricted use versions of the data files? The public use and restricted use files differ in the amount of information that they contain, as well as the ease with which they can be obtained and used. The public use versions contain less information but are easily accessible in that they can be downloaded directly from the ICPSR Web site. The purpose of excluding some information from the public use files is to protect the confidentiality of our survey participants. The restricted use versions contain more information, but in order to obtain and use the restricted use files, researchers must apply for access to the data and agree to the strict terms and conditions contained in the data use agreement. Information about the application process and data use agreement are available from ICPSR. Users can consult the relevant user's guide to determine whether the public use version of the file contains enough information to fulfill their analytic needs.
What research has been published from the HSC public use and restricted use data files? While there are many publications by HSC researchers that rely on the CTS and Health Tracking survey data, there are also many researchers from other organizations who have been taking advantage of the public use and restricted use data files. Click here for a list of the journal articles that they have written. If you have a published paper based on the HSC data that is not included on the list, please let us know by sending an e-mail to HSCdataOnline@hschange.org.
