Secondary data analysis – meaning, in the broadest sense, analysis of data collected by someone else – plays a vital role in modern epidemiology and public health research and practice. This is partly because of the emphasis on population-based studies that is common to both fields. For instance, few individual researchers could hope to collect data sufficient to evaluate changes in the health status or health behaviors on a national scale. Fortunately, a wealth of data on health and related subjects, collected on a broad scale and over many years, is available for public use. However, locating secondary data appropriate to address a particular research question is not always easy, partly because an abundance of data is available and also because those data were collected by many different entities and are stored in many different locations. My primary purpose in writing Secondary Data Sources for Public Health is to facilitate use of those data sets in epidemiologic and public health research.

Chapter 1 introduces the topic of secondary data analysis, discusses some of its advantages and disadvantages, describes a general process for locating appropriate data to address a research question, and suggests some types of information that the researcher should try to acquire about any secondary data set being considered for analysis. Chapters 2 through 7 discuss the major secondary data sets and data archives available for studying health issues in the United States.