Florida Research Data Center network will offer USF researchers detailed access to federal data

The University of South Florida will join the Florida Research Data Center network on Tuesday, October 1, enabling USF researchers to access detailed data gathered by the U.S. Census Bureau and 15 other federal agencies. The data is stored in a secure lab at the Florida Federal Statistical Research Data Center on the University of Florida campus in Gainesville, Florida, but some agency data, including datasets from the US Census Bureau, can be accessed remotely.

USF researchers can learn more about the FLDRC by registering for a webinar scheduled for Tuesday, October 8 at 11 a.m.

"Researchers will have access to more geographic details and additional variables in the U.S. Census Bureau data," said FLRDC Executive Director Jaclyn Hall. "We can assist researchers with determining data availability and preparing research proposals."

Troy Quast, a professor in the USF College of Public Health, plans to use the FLRDC data that merges individual information from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control with Medicare claims data. "The value in the data is the ability to look at precise health outcomes and how they relate to healthcare utilization," he said.

Padmaja Ayyagari, associate professor of economics in the USF College of Arts & Sciences, will utilize the data to better understand the value of health insurance to Social Security disability applicants. "This project will use data on geographic variation in access to health insurance available via the FLRDC to estimate the value of health insurance to disability recipients," she said. "The findings are expected to provide new information on the importance of health insurance in disability applications and inform the design of disability benefits."

Xinyan Yan, an assistant professor in the Kate Tiedemann School of Business and Finance at the USF Muma College of Business, is seeking a new way to measure business dynamism using the FLRDC data. "We would like to construct our business dynamism measure from the perspective of the product market and labor market. Both need establishment-level microdata from the Census."

Researchers will be able to view economic, population and health data, such as mortality studies, employment outcomes and community resilience estimates. Previous research studies using this data have measured the Medicaid enrollment undercount and examined trends in mental health visits of adult patients to primary care physicians.

"This new resource for USF researchers will provide access to critical data and will greatly expand capabilities for addressing policy questions, augmenting previous findings and enhancing data analytics," said Sylvia Wilson Thomas, vice present for USF Research & Innovation.

USF becomes the newest member of the FLRDC network, which is comprised of Florida State University, Moffitt Cancer Center, University of Central Florida and University of Florida. The Florida RDC is one of 34 RDC sites across the United States.