PC SYSTEM FOR ANALYSIS OF DATA FROM ALCOHOL-RELATED COMPLEX SURVEY

THE GOAL OF THIS EFFORT IS TO PROVIDE A SOFTWARE SYSTEM WHEREBY NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON ALCOHOL ABUSE AND ALCOHOLISM (NIAAA) ANALYSTS CAN GENERATE NATIONAL ALCOHOL-RELATED ESTIMATES AND ASSOCIATED STANDARD ERRORS BASED ON SURVEYS WITH COMPLEX DESIGNS. THE ANTICIPATED ANALYSIS OF DATA FROM ALCOHOL-RELATED COMPLEX SURVEY (ADARCS) SYSTEM WOULD IMPROVE ON THE EXISTING ANALYSIS METHODOLOGY BY BEING PC IMPLEMENTED, BY EXPLOITING GENERAL STATISTICAL SOFTWARE PACKAGES WHERE THEY APPEAR ADVANTAGEOUS, AND BY PROVIDING MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS CAPABILITIES NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE. PHASE I CONSISTS OF FOUR MAIN TASKS: (1) IDENTIFICATION OF THE NIAAA PROBLEM CONTEXT FOR WHICH THE ADARCS SYSTEM IS TO BE DESIGNED, AND DETERMINATION OF SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS IN TERMS OF ANALYTICAL CAPABILITIES AND FUNCTIONAL FLOW; (2) DEVELOPMENT OF A DESIGN CONCEPT, SPECIFYING THE ANALYSIS APPROACHES TO BE USED AND MAJOR INTERNAL FUNCTIONS NECESSARYFOR PROVISION OF MAJOR SYSTEM FEATURES; (3) IMPLEMENTATION ASSESSMENT, BASED ON SYSTEM INTEGRATION CONSIDERATIONS AND FEATURES OF THE USE ENVIRONMENT; AND (4) USE DEMONSTRATION, BASED ON A PROTOTYPE WITH FUNCTIONAL PROPERTIES SELECTED TO SHOW THE TRANSFER OF CURRENT CAPABILITIES TO THE PC ENVIRONMENT. SUCCESSFUL PHASE I COMPLETION WOULD ESTABLISH CONFIDENCE IN ADARCS' SYSTEM FEASIBILITY AND ENABLE FORMULATION OF A DETAILED PHASE II PLAN FOR FULL DEVELOPMENT OF AN OPERATIONAL ADARCS SYSTEM.