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post #1:
The National Survey of Family Growth collects data on a variety of categories such as pregnancy and births, marriage and cohabitation, infertility, use of contraception, family life, and general and reproductive health. The data is collected by conducting surveys and performing a statistical analysis on them. Some of the research questions that can be formed by using this data source are ,“What is the rate of infertility of men and women ages 18-50 in the United States,” and “What is the current contraceptive status amongst women ages 18-50 in the United States.” One hypothesis could be “Men and women who live in areas of high pollution tend to suffer from infertility more than men and women who do not.” Some strengths of the NSFG as a source of data on unintended pregnancy are its wealth of information on pregnancy, contraceptive use, and related topics. Some weaknesses included the questions as well as how they were interpreted by the respondents.
Reference
Qureshey, E. J., Chen, H. Y., Wagner, S. M., Chauhan, S. P., & Fishel Bartal, M. (2022). Factors associated with long-acting reversible contraception usage: Results from the National Survey of Family Growth. International journal of gynaecology and obstetrics: the official organ of the International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, 10.1002/ijgo.14485. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijgo.14485
Post #2:
The Influenza Hospitalization Surveillance Network (FluSurv-NET) collects demographic and clinical data from patients that have laboratory-confirmed influenza-associated hospitalizations1.
Data collection usually runs from the start to the end of flu season each year (Oct 1 – April 30), though collection periods can and do change if there is atypical influenza activity in any given year. The data collected is generally used to calculate a weekly influenza-associated hospitalization rate, which is then reported to the CDC1.
Because FluSurv-NET collects demographic data, it is possible to examine specific demographics to determine if they have a higher risk of influenza-associated hospitalization.
As an example, a hypothesis that could be addressed using the data source would be: pregnant women are at higher risk of experiencing an influenza-associated hospitalization than the general population.
One strength of the data source is that it only includes laboratory-confirmed cases of influenza-associated hospitalizations. This removes any ambiguity as to whether the patient had influenza, as opposed to self-reporting. One weakness of the data source is that it only collects data from hospitals in 14 states. While the states are fairly well spread out, there is no guarantee that the data collected necessarily reflects national influenza-associated hospitalization rates1.
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023, January 17). Influenza hospitalization surveillance network (FLUSURV-net). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved January 29, 2023, from https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/influenza-hospitalization-surveillance.htm
