Use of External Data Sources and Ratio Estimation To Improve Estimates of Hardcore Drug Use from the NHSDA (From The Validity of Self-Reported Drug Use: Improving the Accuracy of Survey Estimates, P 477-497, 1997, Lana Harrison and Arthur Hughes, eds. - See NCJ 167339)

• NCJ Number: 167359
• Author(s): D Wright; J Gfroerer; J Epstein
• Date Published: 1997
• Length: 21 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: DCC

Annotation

This article describes a method for estimating the prevalence of hardcore drug use based on the National Household Survey on Drug Use (NHSDA), in conjunction with outside sources and the methodology of ratio estimation.

Abstract

This new application of ratio estimation uses, in addition to data from the NHSDA, population counts of the number of persons arrested in the past year from the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) and the number of persons in drug treatment programs in the past year from the National Drug and Alcoholism Treatment Unit Survey (NDATUS). The population counts serve as a benchmark accounting for undercoverage and underreporting of hard core users. This sample evaluation and comparison of the ratio estimation procedure with other methods of estimating hardcore drug use suggests that: (1) ratio estimation does not fully account for underreporting and undercoverage in the NHSDA; (2) it does provide analytic capabilities not possible in any previously used methods; (3) because it relies primarily on regularly updated and consistently collected data and a relatively small number of easily understood assumptions, it is likely to provide more reliable trend information; and (4) it makes it possible to develop estimates of the variances of ratio-adjusted estimates. Tables, references