Improving Health Research on Small Populations

The increasing diversity of population of the United States presents many challenges to conducting health research that is representative and informative. Dispersion and accessibility issues can increase logistical costs; populations for which it is difficult to obtain adequate sample size are also likely to be expensive to study. Hence, even if it is technically feasible to study a small population, it may not be easy to obtain the funding to do so. In order to address the issues associated with improving health research of small populations, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a workshop in January 2018. Participants considered ways of addressing the challenges of conducting epidemiological studies or intervention research with small population groups, including alternative study designs, innovative methodologies for data collection, and innovative statistical techniques for analysis.Table of ContentsFront Matter1 Introduction and Background2 What Do We Mean by "Small Populations"?3 Challenges in Using Available Data for Small Population Health Research4 Techniques Used in Survey Research to Identify and Find Small Populations for Health Research5 New and Emerging Designs for Intervention Studies6 Recruitment, Retention, and Collection of Data7 Analysis Techniques for Small Population Research8 Closing RemarksAppendix A: Agenda and List of ParticipantsAppendix B: Biographical Sketches of Steering Committee and SpeakersCommittee on National Statistics