War Stories from the Drug Survey: How Culture, Politics, and Statistics Shaped the National Survey on Drug Use and Health

Product description Review 'This book is a first of a kind 'tell all' about data. Not just any data, but the very data that courted the national public policy machine into decades of debate about how to solve the very problem it defined: America's addiction to drugs. When she would not cooperate with our wishes and say what we desperately wanted to hear - America is drug free - we tried to change her. As this book documents so well, silly us. The data are the data; what we do with it reflects our own vices. This book is a must read for anyone who wants a thorough understanding of the nexus between data systems and public policy.' John Carnevale, Carnevale Associates, LLC'Sound methodology is a sine qua non of quality measurements. It doesn't happen magically, as Joseph Gfroerer expertly shows us. Data scientists will benefit from the details of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health data generating process; however, the book will also be an invaluable source for policy makers too as it illustrates and informs though fascinating examples of the interplay between political decision making and survey statistics.' Frauke Kreuter, University of Maryland, University of Mannheim and Institute for Employment Research'Rare is it to find a comprehensive methodological and political history of an important social and epidemiological resource such as the NSDUH. Gfroerer's careful documentation of the evolution of this ongoing national survey make for a fascinating case study of real world applied research.' Timothy P. Johnson, University of Illinois, Chicago Book Description An insider account that encapsulates thirty years of experience in conducting data science in a political context. About the Author Joseph Gfroerer was responsible for analysis and supervision of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health for more than three decades as a statistician at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). A widely recognized expert in methods for substance use surveys, he authored dozens of peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, and hundreds of government reports on survey methodology and substance use epidemiology. A member of the American Statistical Association for over thrity-five years, he has received numerous awards from NIDA, SAMHSA, the White House, and the American Public Health Association for his work on the survey. Read more