A supportive backbone for scientific studies

Science Article

Collaborative Data Services team members support researchers by tackling anything to do with data

Collaborative Data Services supports 15 to 30 research projects each month in the areas of technology development, management or consulting, data operation, telephone interviewing and technology training. Above, Scott Sutherland, CDS director, reviews study data with Dr. Lynda Voight. Photo by Todd McNaught

Random-digit dialing is a technique many Fred Hutchinson researchers rely on to obtain control groups for studies that aim to identify risk factors for cancer and for scientific surveys. But the process is a tedious one for the interviewers who must fill out paperwork for each phone call made to find participants.

"We have hundreds of notebooks full of paperwork," said Dr. Lynda Voigt, a senior staff scientist for the Cancer Epidemiology Research Cooperative. "It was very slow and hard to store that magnitude of paper and of course a certain amount of error occurs."

When Voigt and PHS investigator Dr. Janet Stanford tired of dealing with the hundreds of binders full of forms and the slow process of calling numbers to recruit for their studies, they turned to the Collaborative Data Services (CDS) for help. The team of programmers in this shared resource turned the lengthy process of random-digit dialing into a simple, easy to use computer program. Today, with a click of a mouse, interviewers can display the survey questions on the computer screen and enter participant responses question-by-question as the interview proceeds.

"Now we have lots of flexibility and it is so much faster," Voigt said. "The interviewers love it and they can do everything interactively with the computer. If they make a mistake it shows it right away. It is a very nifty solution for us."

The CDS team members are not scientists, yet they act as the backbone for many studies at the center. The CDS staff of 25 members supports 15 to 30 projects each month through technology development, management, consulting or training, data operations and telephone interviewing.

"How much we do for a study varies from project to project," CDS director Scott Sutherland said. "We could do one little piece or we could do most of the study."

CDS works to provide fee-for-service survey implementation, quality control, data acquisition, data management and custom programming to projects and programs throughout the center, the Fred Hutchinson/University of Washington Consortium, Children's Hospital and other research facilities.

Data operations

The full-service data operations group performs data collection such as editing, coding, key entry and verification, participant tracking optical scanning, mailing services, survey development, interviewing and testing.

"You name it," Sutherland said. "If it involves working with data they do it."

Their services sometimes starts in the design phase of a study, with the CDS team helping project staff develop budgets, survey instruments, sampling schemes, data entry and database tracking systems.

Once a study begins, CDS can systematically collect data through phone interviews and mailed surveys. They may also arrange for collection of blood and other biologic specimens from study participants.

"It's fun to be involved in the whole process because actually the more they ask us to do the more we understand about the study and in the end it helps us to do a better job," said Eileen Van Hollebeke, CDS data operations manager.

Key to the collection of data are the nine telephone interviewers who conduct surveys using a computer-assisted telephone-interviewing system, similar to the random digit-dialing program. However, unlike random-digit dialing, CDS is not doing any "cold" calling. Researchers usually supply interviewers with a list of people to contact and a letter requesting participation for a study precedes each call, Hollebeke said. CDS also offers customers random digit dialing, which can be tailored to their study. CDS interviewers must be masters of human relations, for sometimes it takes a bit of talking to get people to participate in an interview that could take 10 minutes to an hour and involve personal questions about their lives and health.

Technology development

About half of CDS' work involves helping to plan cancer research studies, collecting study data and preparing for analysis, and the other half is technology development. This group is made up of nine programmers who work to build agile software and database development with the ability to reuse the software components for other studies.

"There are so many programs that it would be like trying to count good deeds at a scouting convention," said David Rogers, CDS programming manager.

The products the team of programmers has already developed include a tracking database for people, samples and forms, and the random-digit dialing system.

Voigt said when working with the programmers on the random digit-dialing service she was amazed at how helpful they were. "They have been super," she said. "I just can't say enough about the programmers and the people writing the software. They asked for input from the interviewers who are on the frontline and they listened to them and constantly modified the program so it works for them."

A new service that the CDS provides is technology training, which Sutherland hopes will bring together and support programmers at the center and in the consortium. Currently, they plan to offer courses in NET programming for Web-based applications and an introduction class to SQL Server for Access programmers in June.

"There are about a hundred technical people in PHS alone, but many of them don't work together," Rogers said. "So, part of our goal is to get individual technical folks talking to each other."

While working in the Met Park building, CDS had difficulty reaching out to different studies other than research conducted in the Public Health Sciences Division. Sutherland said he hopes that the move to the new PHS building will help expand their services to other areas at the center as well as other research facilities.

"Most of our customers so far have been PHS studies," Sutherland said. "But now that PHS is on the Day campus I think we are in a much better position to serve the whole center. So, we are now actively reaching out to other areas."

The move to the new PHS building has given CDS a larger space to conduct their services making it easier for them to support more studies.

"My goal is to help out in areas where we can bring the very best value to the center," Sutherland said.

Fee-based services

The fees for CDS services vary depending on the amount of work the study needs. Technology development and consulting can range from $43 to $85 an hour, data operations charges $17 to $30 an hour, telephone interviews cost $22 to $30 an hour and technology training is typically $550 per person for a 20 to 40 hour class. Initial consultation for a study is free of charge as well as estimates for their services. Outside clients of Fred Hutchinson pay some indirect costs in addition to the hourly rates.

CDS traces its beginnings to a subsection of PHS's Cancer Prevention Research Program formed in 1989. That group than evolved into two groups: CDS and Nutrition Assessment Shared Resource. In 1988, CDS became a stand alone shared resource, which continues to evolve and find new products and ways of serving the center.

Voigt said she truly values the services CDS provides for studies at the center. "They are important to have at the center because they have specialized skills and they use these skills to enhance the way we do science," she said.

---

Brown-bag seminar

From 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. June 14, in the PHS building, Room M1-A303-A305, CDS lead developer Paul Litwin will present "Upsizing Access Databases to SQL Server." Fred Hutchinson and Alliance software developers, data base managers, IT personnel and anyone considering a move to SQL Server or using an Access front-end with a SQL Server back-end can attend this brown-bag seminar.

After an overview of the options available when upsizing to SQL Server, Litwin will share the strategy he took when upsizing a number of center Access-based tracking systems to SQL and discuss ways of working around issues encountered.

Center News Table of Contents