National Health Interview Survey, COVID-19, and Online Data Collection Platforms: Adaptations, Tradeoffs, and New Directions

Abstract

High-quality data are accurate, relevant, and timely. Large national health surveys have always balanced the implementation of these quality dimensions to meet the needs of diverse users. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted these balances, with both disrupted survey operations and a critical need for relevant and timely health data for decision-making. The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) responded to these challenges with several operational changes to continue production in 2020. However, data files from the 2020 NHIS were not expected to be publicly available until fall 2021. To fill the gap, the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) turned to 2 online data collection platforms—the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey (HPS) and the NCHS Research and Development Survey (RANDS)—to collect COVID-19‒related data more quickly. This article describes the adaptations of NHIS and the use of HPS and RANDS during the pandemic in the context of the recently released Framework for Data Quality from the Federal Committee on Statistical Methodology. (Am J Public Health. 2021;111(12):2167–2175. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306516 )

Adaptive Time Location Sampling for Compass, a Sars-Cov-2 Prevalence Study in Fifteen Diverse Communities in the United States

“…The COVID-19 pandemic created a pressing need for new, high-quality data; yet the stay-at-home policies for mitigating its spread profoundly impacted many well-established ongoing surveys such as the national health and nutrition examination survey [9][10][11][12] . Several strategies were used or proposed for sampling participants.…”

“…Traditional probability-based sampling methods rely on addresses, lists, or registries to sample and recruit participants 7,8 . The vast shutdowns at the beginning of the pandemic forced many well-established national probability surveys to pause or adapt new data collection strategies [9][10][11][12] , questioning the feasibility of implementing a new probability survey during the pandemic. Given logistical uncertainties in carrying out fieldwork, the COMPASS study team sought design strategies that would be more robust to changing guidelines.…”

Anxiety and depression symptoms among children before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…It should be noted that the 2020 NHIS sample size was reduced due to interruptions to data collection as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which included greater reliance on telephone interviewing. [6] Weighting procedures accompanied with a bias assessment allowed for the creation of comparable samples between time periods. [7]…”

Uptake and Equity in Influenza Vaccination Among Veterans with VA Coverage, Veterans Without VA Coverage, and Non-Veterans in the USA, 2019–2020

“…In 2020, the NHIS was mostly conducted by telephone due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and in the second half of the year, the survey underwent a change in sampling design, with follow-up interviews of 2019 NHIS respondents replacing roughly half the originally intended random annual adult sample. 18 , 19 Following NHIS instructions, 18 we excluded repeat respondents from our 2020 sample to permit analysis of combined 2019–2020 data, using NHIS’ weights specially designed for this purpose.…”