The purpose of this R13 application is to request partial support for the organization and conduct of the 10th Conference on Health Survey Research Methods, tentatively scheduled to be held in 2011. Since 1975, nine successful conferences have been held in this series, which is the only research forum known to focus exclusively on the topic of improving the collection of health survey data. The proceedings from each conference have been made publicly available. For the 10th Conference, we are proposing the development of an edited book or a special issue of a journal as the final Conference product, a strategy that we believe will increase the Conference's impact. A formal Steering Committee, made up of academic and government experts on this topic, has been organized and is meeting on a regular basis to plan the agenda for the conference. To date, financial contributions totaling about 40% of the estimated costs of holding the conference have been pledged by a number of public and private research organizations and other requests for support are currently being considered by AHRQ and non-federal sources. Additional support from NCI would push us closer to having sufficient funds to convene the conference on schedule in early 2011.
Survey research is one of the most important sources of empirical data regarding the health of our nation. This conference will focus exclusively on strategies for improving the public health information collected via survey research methodologies.
