Facilitating the Use of Administrative Data: Examples from the Penn State Data Accelerator

Growing demand for understanding the impact of preventive interventions on public systems and budgets necessitates identifying strategies for facilitating research studies including this type of data. Yet, the process of using administrative data in prevention research projects can be slow and burdensome. This paper will discuss the structure and design of a university data accelerator constructed through multiple researcher-government partnerships to support access, management and analysis of administrative data. This resource supports both policymaker and scientist initiated research projects. Key strategies for reducing the burden on individual investigators as well as government partners will be shared. These will include approaches for navigating institutional security and liability concerns, securing research-friendly data use agreements, structuring internal review board protocols. Past and ongoing research studies supported by this data accelerator will be outlined. Approaches for constructing researcher-government data projects, navigating changing priorities and disseminating findings will be shared. Further, multiple administrative data studies indicate the opportunity for lowering the costs of program evaluation. The promises and pitfalls of using administrative data for evaluating prevention programs will be described. Finally, lessons learned and research priorities for the field of prevention science will be discussed.