Not going to lie, data can be hard to find, and health data can be even harder because most health data is collected by the government, hospitals, clinical researchers, health foundations, and research centers. Because it is often protected by HIPPA laws, you will mostly find aggregate data rather than datasets with a great deal of information on the level of individual persons. You may find you need to adjust your proposed project by zooming out to household level, county level, or state level. 

We recommend that you start your class projects and research early so that you have plenty of time to find data and reach out to Deborah or Brea. Please review the Finding Data Getting Started page for an overview of tips on defining your topic, looking for data, and understanding what type of data you need for your project.

Understanding what type of data you need is essential. For some of your classes, statistical or aggregated data may be fine, and for others, you will need to find raw data files or packages and do the statistical equations yourself. Depending on what you need, this will affect what you can find publicly, through open data repositories, or via subscriptions. 

You also need a clear understanding of your topic: 

1. Who? Know your population
2. What? Know the health issue of concern or intervention
3. What? Another variable that you need to know or factor into your search for data
4. When? One-time study vs a longitudinal study or time-series data
5. When? Is the issue currently undergoing clinical trials? Has the government or the WHO already reported on this health issue?
6. How? How are you going to analyze the data? What methods statistical methods are you going to use? Do you need software and are you already trained on it?