When determining your membership, you may want to look at whether or not there is a reasonable number of potential participants. The data tools included on this page can help you see what kind of issues are affecting what populations the most. There are two important things you want to keep in mind as you research and look at data.
Data and Statistics are inherently very specific, but what you really want to know may not be. There are some terms that we use to describe a state of being or set of people that do not have a singular, clear definition. Think about your topic and the words you are using to see if there are ways to more clearly define what you want to know.
Example: Suicide data could represent non-fatal suicide attempts, deaths by suicide, or both.
When dealing with sensitive topics, it can be hard to get exact statistics due to non-reported incidents, situations where charges were not filed, arrests were not made, individuals choosing not to self-identify, or an individual's inability to recognize oneself as a victim or survivor. Data relies on something that can be clearly identified by a researcher, so you may have to focus on finding an acceptable measure of prevalence over an exact match to your topic.
Example: Domestic violence data often relies on law enforcement's ability to accurately identify and report it, and state laws may differ on how they code and define charges.
Report from Penn State Health covers six counties: Berks, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Perry. It identifies major concerns and socioeconomic impact factors.
Enterprise Data Dissemination Informatics Exchange (EDDIE) is a collection of health data, which includes the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS).
Dahsboards on health issues, including those associated with mental health and substance use.
Useful to look at demographics about certain aspects of PA populations.
Conducted every two years, this survey asks PA middle and high-schools students about their behavior, attitudes and knowledge concerning alcohol, tobacco, other drugs and violence. Reports available by county.
You may want to specifically look at the Human Services category, but helpful information may be available in other areas as it related to your group's topic.
Data visualizations and authors that match the keyword 'Pennsylvania'. Several visualizations from state agencies and research organizations are available.
Caseload statistics can be used to give an idea of the issues effecting Pennsylvanians, and can be broken down by county. Data about PFA orders, foster care, and criminal cases - all broken down by county.
Nationally collected information about both personal and property victimization. You can create custom graphics that are able to be filtered.
Statistics about mental health prevalence and treatments. Depth and information about each topic varies, but some (ex. suicide) provide an in-depth overview.
You can build a table or look at the interactive graphics to get information about mental health and substance use.
