Lack of Data Hampers Rural Human Services Research, HHS Says

OCT. 15, 2005 | Less is known about the quality, availability, use, and cost of human services in rural America than non-rural America because suitable data is difficult to find, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently observed.

Human services research for rural communities is behind health services research for this reason, according to an August report by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE).

The office contracted Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., to analyze federal, non-federal, and state administrative datasets for their usefulness to empirical research on three human services topics: work supports, substance abuse, and child welfare.

Similarly, Rural Early Childhood last year sponsored an analysis by the Urban Institute of the usefulness of key national datasets to research on the wellbeing of rural young children. See the Rural Early Childhood Report here.

ASPE found that “much of the research on rural areas addresses circumstances in a specific locality with results that may be the consequence of local implementation factors, and not generalizable to other or all rural areas.”

Moreover, ASPE reported, “Some national studies exclude rural sites altogether  or, if they do include both rural and nonrural sites, do not report rural and nonrural results separately.”

Download the August ASPE Research Summary and the full two-volume report.