Statistics Assesment and Data Management Core

Statistics, Assessment and Data Management Core

The Statistics, Assessment, and Data Management (StAD) Core will be a resource for cutting-edge conceptualization, consultation, and collaboration in major research-methods domains critical to the HIV Center’s mission.

  1. To develop and promote state-of-the-art research design and analytic strategies for study planning,   
    analytic monitoring, and statistical analyses in bio-behavioral HIV/AIDS research that emphasize
    • Innovative trials research including intervention development studies; efficacy trials; and comparative effectiveness, health services, and other implementation research designs;
    • Observational or determinants-focused research using individual-level data or existing institutional and   
      population-based databases to understand basic bio-behavioral mechanisms affecting the HIV   
      prevention and care continua for emerging and persisting vulnerable special populations;
    • Mixed methods research that integrates quantitative (i.e., trial or observational) data with qualitative   
      descriptions of experiences, meanings, contexts, and facilitators/barriers that underlie those data.   
       
  2. To facilitate identification, adaptation, and/or development of assessment strategies that maximize   
    validity, technological currency and flexibility, and explanatory power by providing expertise in
    • Identification and adaptation of quantitative assessments, especially of mental health and substance   
      use; neurocognitive; and psychosocial, structural, system-level and health behavior characteristics;
    • Development and adaptation of qualitative assessment tools and guidance in qualitative analysis;
    • Use of current and emerging digital platforms (e.g., social media, text messaging, mobile apps, large   
      electronic databases such as electronic medical records and surveillance data) for assessment as well   
      as for developing and implementing targeted HIV prevention and treatment initiatives.   
       
  3. To promote rigorous data management by all investigators by
    • Leveraging expertise in our institutional data management center to provide access to a state-of-the-art   
      data management system that ensures and optimizes secure data collection, including quality-checks   
      of data in real time, and storage of data;
    • Working with investigators to establish project-specific methods for high-quality, efficient data collection   
      and management;
    • Building capacity for harmonizing existing data and maximizing compatibility of new datasets to enable   
      meta-analyses, pooled analyses, pilot study research, and data sharing both within the HIV Center and   
      across the broader research community.