Survey Methods and Documentation

Choose from one of the following to learn more in-depth information about the surveys:

• Guide to Changes across Survey Years
• Survey Sampling and Administration Process
• Full-length Survey Instruments
• Survey Design and Operations Manuals
• SAS-SPSS Codebooks

National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs - 2001, 2005/06  and 2009/10

• Compare Results on Core Outcomes and Key Indicators
  • Pick a state or HRSA region to view side by side comparison of 2005/06 vs 2009/10 
  • Pick a state or HRSA region to view side by side comparison of 2001 vs 2005/06
• MCHB Core Outcomes - Compare Changes to Questions and Methods
  • One-page outline of major changes between 2005/06 and 2009/10 NS-CSHCN 
  • One-page outline of major changes between 2001 and 2005/06 NS-CSHCN
  • Detailed Side by Side Comparison of 2001 and 2005/06 NS-CSHCN
• National Chartbook Indicators - Compare Changes to Questions and Methods
  • Compare 2001 and 2005/06 to 2009/10 NS-CSHCN
  • Compare 2001 and 2005/06 NS-CSHCN

National Survey of Children's Health - 2003, 2007, and 2011/12

• What's New in 2011/12 NSCH?
• Compare Changes to Questions 2007 vs 2011/12 in the Child Health Measures section (New Release)


• What's New in 2007 NSCH?
• Compare Results on Key Indicators of Child Health - 
  • Pick a state or HRSA region to view side by side comparison of 2003 & 2007
• Compare Changes to Questions 2003 vs. 2007 in the Child Health Measures section
• Compare Changes to Questions 2003 vs. 2007 in the State Chartbook section

For more details on the NSCH or NS-CSHCN, see Guide to Topics and Questions and Full-length Survey Instruments.

Survey Sampling & Administration Process

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A picture is worth a thousand words. These one-page diagrams summarize the sampling and administration steps for the national surveys.

National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs

• 2009/10 NS-CSHCN Survey Sampling & Administration
• 2005/06 NS-CSHCN Sampling & Administration Process
• 2005/06 NS-CSHCN Number and Percentage of Households with CSHCN
• 2005/06 NS-CSHCN Outcome Summary Tables
• 2001 NS-CSHCN Sampling & Administration Process
• 2001 NS-CSHCN Number and Percentage of Households with CSHCN

National Survey of Children's Health

• 2011/12 NSCH Sampling & Administration Process (New Release)
• 2007 NSCH Sampling & Administration Process
• 2003 NSCH Sampling & Administration Process

Full Length Survey Instruments

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Both the NSCH and NS-CSHCN use Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing (CATI) to conduct the surveys. The full length instruments are available in English and Spanish.

National Survey of Children's Health

• 2011/12 NSCH Full Length Instrument
  • English Version
  • Spanish Version
• 2007 NSCH Full Length Instrument
  • English Version
  • Spanish Version
• 2003 NSCH Full Length Instrument
  • English Version
  • Spanish Version

National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs

• 2009/10 NS-CSHCN Full Length Instrument
  • English Version
• 2005/06 NS-CSHCN Full Length Instrument
  • English Version
  • Spanish Version
• 2001 NS-CSHCN Full Length Instrument
  • English Version

Survey Design and Operations Manuals

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Design and Operations Manuals are technical reports authored by the National Center for Health Statistics which describe the methodological details of survey sampling and data collection procedures.

National Survey of Children's Health

• 2011/12 National Survey of Children's Health FAQ (New Release)
• 2007 National Survey of Children's Health
• 2003 National Survey of Children's Health 

National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs

• 2009/10 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs FAQ
• 2005/06 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs (NS-CSHCN)
• 2001 National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs (NS-CSHCN)

Methods for analyzing complex sample survey data

Presentation from the National Center for Health Statistics  with guidelines and examples of SAS, SUDAAN and STATA code for obtaining estimates of variability and statistical significance from the NSCH and NS-CSHCN. (document non-508 compliant).

SAS & SPSS Codebooks

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The codebooks below are developed by the Data Resource Center. These codebooks provide the SPSS or SAS syntax and documentation used to create all major indicators and subgroup variables that are displayed on the Data Resource Center interactive data query. For NSCH Codebooks, syntax is provided to create over 80 Key Child Health Indicators and demographic groups. For NS-CSHCN Codebooks, syntax is provided to create the 15 Child Health Indicators and the six Maternal and Child Health Bureau Outcome measures plus demographic subgroups. For additional information on variable construction, please see our Ask a Question feature. 

National Survey of Children's Health

• 2011/12 NSCH Codebook for SPSS (New Release)
• 2011/12 NSCH Codebook for SAS (New Release)
• 2007 NSCH Codebook for SPSS 
• 2007 NSCH Codebook for SAS
• 2003 NSCH Codebook for SPSS
• 2003 NSCH Codebook for SAS

National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs

• 2009/10 NS-CSHCN Codebook for SPSS (New Release)
• 2009/10 NS-CSHCN Codebook for SAS
• 2005/06 NS-CSHCN Codebook for SPSS
• 2001 NS-CSHCN Codebook for SPSS
• 2001 NS-CSHCN Codebook for SAS