In recognition of more than two decades of work advancing data equity, the American Association for Public Opinion Research honored the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research’s California Health Interview Survey with its Inclusive Voices Award.
The California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), which was first administered in 2001, is the largest population-representative state health survey in the United States. The survey has been a centerpiece project that fuels the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research’s efforts to make an impact on California’s policy landscape.
“We couldn’t be more thrilled and appreciative to receive such a prestigious award,” said Ninez A. Ponce, director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research (CHPR) and principal investigator of CHIS. With an annual sample size of more than 20,000 people in California, CHIS is a leading source of credible and comprehensive data on the health and health care needs of California’s large and diverse population.
“Over the years, so many people at the Center — and specifically on the CHIS team — have dedicated themselves to expanding representation and inclusivity in population data,” Ponce said.
The Inclusive Voices Award is presented by the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR), the nation’s most esteemed association of public opinion and survey research professionals. The award recognizes the important data sets, research, and survey methods that have improved the ability to study complex social phenomena related to understudied populations. The award will be presented on May 16 at the AAPOR 79th annual conference in Atlanta.
“AAPOR is proud to award the 2024 Inclusive Voices Award to the California Health Interview Survey. For over 20 years CHIS has served as a national model for best practices in collecting data on race and ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity, and immigration status,” the association said. “AAPOR selected CHIS as the recipient of the Inclusive Voices Award for its commitment to design a general population survey to include the voices of those who are undercounted or underrepresented and its commitment to health equity via data equity.”
Why data disaggregation is so important
As government agencies and foundations incorporate population data more and more in their decision-making, Ponce said it’s essential that they have more precise information. One way CHIS has been an exemplar in collecting data on race and ethnicity is with the special efforts made to increase participation by underrepresented populations such as Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, American Indians and Alaska Natives, and Asian subgroups, as well as immigrants and LGBTQ+ populations.
In 2018–2019 CHIS researchers conducted a follow-on study into the experiences of Californians who were born in Asia or Latin America as they sought health care, went to work and school, and engaged in their communities. In 2021, CHIS researchers conducted a follow-on study of health behaviors and attitudes about tobacco among LBGTQ+ adults in California. Researchers have also worked to increase representation among those with disabilities.
When the COVID-19 pandemic began, CHIS created several tools to track case and death rates and various risk factors, revealing systemic social and health inequities. The survey also added a series of COVID-19 questions and, for the first time in history, released preliminary estimates on topics such as COVID-19 treatment and vaccine acceptability, personal and financial impacts of the pandemic, and hate incidents. Sharing preliminary estimates helped policymakers, health experts, and the public understand the immediate and ongoing impact of the pandemic on Californians.
Though it wasn’t surprising that historically marginalized populations suffered disproportionate harm during the pandemic, having verifiable data could influence relief interventions.
“As part of a public university like UCLA, we welcome the responsibility of producing scholarship and research that serves the public,” said Ponce, who holds the Fred W. and Pamela K. Wasserman Chair in Health Policy and Management at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.
CHIS staff are committed to ensuring that data don’t just sit on a shelf. They make CHIS data available to the public through free and easy-to-use online tools.
Another way CHIS has been a leader in the field of data collection has been through its evolution. Todd Hughes, director of CHIS, led a redesign in 2019 that moved the methodology from a telephone survey to an address-based sampling design using mail push-to-web data collection with telephone follow-up.
“The DNA of our work is accurate and precise representation. That means meeting people where they are, and as technology evolves, we have, too,” Hughes said. “It’s humbling to see the rigorous work of our team earn such recognition.”
Creating more precise data sets requires purposeful work
The researchers undertake special efforts during the sample design process to ensure that the people surveyed reflect the population of the most diverse state in the country. Additionally, survey materials in Spanish, Chinese (Mandarin and Cantonese), Korean, Vietnamese, and Tagalog are sent to sample addresses, based on prediction models of the language needs of each address. Bilingual telephone interviewers are available in each of these languages as well.
Partnering with other researchers and organizations in recent years, CHIS has implemented oversamples of American Indians and Alaska Natives, as well as specific geographic area oversamples to meet targets of age/race/ethnicity profiles for local health departments and health delivery systems.
This level of data disaggregation enables researchers to measure the health and well-being of small population groups, allowing the data-driven health narrative for different groups to be told in their own voices.
The award from AAPOR, which includes producers and users of survey data from a variety of disciplines, comes as the UCLA CHPR prepares to celebrate three decades of work.
“To be honored among our peers and colleagues is wonderful,” Ponce said. “This kind of recognition fuels us all as we chart the future of how the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research will continue to work toward health equity through data equity.”
Several researchers from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research will be presenting at AAPOR’s 79th annual conference May 15–17.
The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research (CHPR) is one of the nation’s leading health policy research centers and the premier source of health policy information for California. UCLA CHPR improves the public’s health through high quality, objective, and evidence-based research and data that informs effective policymaking. UCLA CHPR is the home of the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) and is part of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.