View Research by Author - Timothy Triplett

Publications

The Massachusetts Health Insurance Survey (MHIS) collects information on health insurance coverage and access to and use of health care for the non-institutionalized population in Massachusetts. It is funded by the Massachusetts Division of Health Care Finance and Policy (DHCFP) and is conducted by the Urban Institute, along with its subcontractor, Social Science Research Solutions (SSRS). This report provides information about the methods used to collect and analyze the MHIS.

This report describes the methods used to conduct the 2009 DC Health Insurance Survey, which collected information on insurance status and options in the District of Columbia. Data collection strategy, survey design, data processing, weights and response rate are among the discussed details. It also discusses the dual sample frame design strategy used to capture information on landline households as well as cell phone-only households.

The events surrounding hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 produced one of the largest disaster responses by nongovernmental, charitable organizations, including both faith-based and community organizations (FBCOs). This report is based on a telephone survey of 202 FBCOs that provided disaster-related human services and in-depth, field-based case studies of eight organizational responses after the hurricanes. The survey findings address what types of services were provided, to whom, and the collaborations used by FBCOs to deliver services. The case studies explore what motivated the response in 2005 and suggest how such efforts might connect with the larger disaster response and human service delivery systems to provide needed services in future disasters (For more information, contact Principal Investigators Carol J. De Vita and Fredrica D. Kramer).

The Urban Institute, along with its subcontractor, International Communications Research, conducted the 2008 Massachusetts Health Insurance Survey (HIS) for the Massachusetts Division of Health Care Finance and Policy to obtain information on health insurance coverage and access to and use of health care for the non-institutionalized population in Massachusetts. This report provides information about the methods used to collect and analyze the 2008 HIS data.

Florida is among the first states to implement Medicaid reform using a competitive consumer choice model. Using data from a 2006-07 survey of Medicaid beneficiaries newly enrolled in Florida’s reform program, in an October volume of Health Affairs, Terri Coughlin, Sharon Long and Tim Triplett and colleagues examine how well Florida Medicaid beneficiaries understood the many changes taking place in Medicaid and their experiences in selecting a health plan. They found significant gaps in beneficiaries’ understanding of major components of the reform. Among others, about 30 percent were not aware they were enrolled in reform and more than half had trouble understanding plan information. Additionally, they found that these problems were not particular to any group but instead were experienced broadly across the full Medicaid population.

Researchers from the Urban Institute and the State of Massachusetts explored why existing surveys generate very different estimates of the uninsurance rate in Massachusetts. The surveys they examined are the Current Population Survey (CPS), the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), the Massachusetts Health Insurance Survey, and the Massachusetts Health Reform Survey (MHRS). This brief described how estimates may vary because of differences in the wording of the insurance questions asked in the surveys, differences in question placement and context within the survey, differences in survey design and fielding strategies, differences in accounting for missing data and other data preparation, and differences in survey fielding time frames. The analysis concludes that there has been no single survey in Massachusetts that is clearly superior across all of these important dimensions.

In this "Five Question" feature, Tim Triplett, a research methodologist and part of Urban Institute's new Statistical Methods Group, talks about Lessons Learned from the National Survey of America's Families (NSAF). The experience of conducting NSAF demonstrates the necessity of flexibility in survey design. Proxies, incentives, and other survey methodologies are discussed.

The cornerstone of the ANF project was the National Survey of America's Families (NSAF), a survey of the economic, health, and social characteristics of children, adults under the age of 65, and their families. Conducted in 1997, 1999, and 2002 to gather information during each round on more than 100,000 people and more than 40,000 families across the country, the NSAF allowed researchers to watch national trends emerge. This report summarizes the pioneering steps and major accomplishments of the survey methods used to complete the NSAF, while acknowledging key challenges and important lessons for future household surveys.

This report focuses on the characteristics of nonrespondents to the 2002 NSAF and assesses the impact of nonreponse on the NSAF statistics. It includes analysis of the effectiveness of the call attempt and refusal conversion strategies across all three rounds of NSAF data collection, providing some insights on how the level of effort affects the quality of the data by reducing nonresponse. This report also includes a sociodemographic comparison of nonrespondents using census block information obtained for 2002 nonrespondents and respondents.

This report focuses on the data editing techniques and imputations that were unique to the 2002 NSAF data processing steps. It is a supplement to the 1997 and 1999 NSAF data editing reports (No. 10 in both series), and does not reiterate the data editing techniques, data processing, and coding guidelines documented in these prior reports.

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