Enhancing Community Assessments with Local Data

Much of our work at IP3 involves supporting clients in conducting community assessments by helping them maximize insights from publicly available data. Secondary data sources such as national datasets and government reports are incredibly valuable but often only tell part of the story. To gain a more full understanding of complex community issues, we encourage the incorporation of qualitative insights, local data, and community dialogue, which can significantly enrich assessments.

One recent project exemplifies this approach. We partnered with a client working with the Opioid and Substance Use framework, where available national datasets left critical gaps in their understanding of the issue at a more localized level. To bridge these gaps, we helped them leverage a rich but underused local data source: the National College Health Assessment (NCHA) results from Oklahoma State University (OSU).

The NCHA is a nationally recognized research survey that can assist college campuses in collecting precise data on a wide range of health and wellness issues that impact students and affect academic performance. The survey had been implemented on the OSU campus, providing rich, local, primary data informing researchers about student behaviors and trends. 

Leveraging Local Data for a More Complete Picture

IP3 first supported the OSU team in understanding opportunities for building out key domains within the Opioid and Substance Use framework with NCHA data. The robust survey of university students covers many physical and mental health, substance use, and more. Through their partners, our client at OSU acquired the dataset and necessary permissions to use it. We then coached them to:

1. Identify and extract relevant data from the datasource

2. Prepare structured data files for use in IP3 ASSESS

3. Validate the data to ensure consistency and accuracy

4. Create metadata to document sources and definitions

   
   

Incorporating these data into IP3 ASSESS alongside secondary data enables OSU researchers to view and explore all available data in one easy place and share data with stakeholders as needed. Researchers now have a more complete understanding of opioid and substance use related behaviors on campus, and in turn, develop an informed, data-driven approach to increase campus and community well-being. 

Data Limitations and Constraints

The analytic capability of local data we might wish to incorporate into IP3 ASSESS can be limited. In this example, only data from OSU’s NCHA was available, which means that z-score analysis, and displaying state and national benchmarks was unfortunately not an option. Despite this limitation, the client was motivated to include the data because it allowed them to:

• Use it in IP3 ASSESS Reports, which support the bringing together of data from many disparate sources into interactive data reports which can be made publicly available for purposes of sharing health data, developing partnership and advancing advocacy

• Grow a repository of Oklahoma-specific data to support fellow stewards in the state using data to drive health improve strategy and transformative change

This highlights an important consideration for organizations looking to integrate local data—while national benchmarking may not always be possible, the value of rich, localized insights may outweigh this limitation.

The Role of Technical Capacity in Success

The technical capacities of OSU’s team made this project successful. They had a team member with advanced data skills who could dedicate time to the project over several months, and the technology tools at their disposal necessary to extract, validate, and prepare the local data for use in IP3 ASSESS. 

Not all organizations have this level of capacity; that’s why IP3’s custom data services are designed to support clients who may lack the in-house expertise or resources to manage their own data preparation. Whether through direct coaching, hands-on data support, or full-service data processing, we help organizations unlock the potential of available local data.

If you’re interested in learning more about how IP3 can support your team in using primary and secondary data to drive community change, please get in touch today!