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Here are a number of resources that are helpful in matters of data collection and analysis. Many of them are links to survey instruments that are useful for social norms projects; several others provide links to national trend data or databases.


The National College Health Assessment (NCHA)

Organized by the American College Health Association (ACHA), this national research effort is designed to assist institutions of higher education in collecting data about the health of their students. The NCHA allows you to generate data and incidence rates for a variety of health issues at your institution, such as alcohol and tobacco use, sexual behavior, body weight, and mental health.

Each participating institution is sent their individualized data as well as a summary of data collected from all the participating institutions that follow the recommended sampling procedures. This data can help you to:

  • Identify risk factors to students' safety and academic performance
  • Prioritize student health care issues and allocate resources for programming
  • Design new programs or evaluate current strategies
  • Compare results at your institution to national trends

Contents of this site include:


Social Norms Surveys (Online)

The web based surveys of the Alcohol Education Project have been designed to support social norms programming in college and secondary school environments. Specific college student-athlete and greek surveys are available to support sub-population programming. Web surveys provide a secure, low cost, rapid data collection solution for social norms programming that provides for greater accuracy through real-time validation. Students can complete surveys in 10-15 minutes.

Some of the information provided at this site includes:

  • Examples of results from surveys that have been administered
  • Sample surveys
  • Discussion of how to use these surveys in your program.
  • Assessment of Norms, Behaviors, and Attitudes
    Developed by the staff of the National Social Norms Resource Center, this survey is designed primarily to be administered as a paper-and-pencil survey, and is available for duplication and use by schools and communities.
  • Survey of Student Norms
    Developed by H. Wesley Perkins and David Craig of the Alcohol Education Project at Hobart and William Smith Colleges (HWS), this survey was designed primarily for online administration, although some schools have used paper-and-pencil administration. For further information about this survey, as well as information about support and consultation, see the contact information on the web site of the HWS Alcohol Education Project: http://alcohol.hws.edu.


    • The [College] Campus Survey of Alcohol and Other Drug Norms (Core)

    The Campus Survey of Alcohol and Other Drug Norms is a questionnaire that allows you to assess students' perceptions of alcohol and drug use on your campus and to compare these with the reality of their use. The survey looks at perceptions regarding alcohol, marijuana, other illicit drugs, heavy episodic alcohol consumption, and attitudes toward campus policies. It asks students to rate the perceived use and attitudes of their friends and the general student population and to provide their own usage and attitudes regarding the same items.

    A downloadable copy of the Campus Survey of Alcohol and Other Drug Norms is available at this site.


    Monitoring the Future

    An invaluable resource for national trend data, Monitoring the Future is an ongoing study of the behaviors, attitudes, and values of American secondary school students, college students, and young adults. Each year, a total of some 50,000 8th, 10th and 12th grade students are surveyed (12th graders since 1975, and 8th and 10th graders since 1991.) In addition, annual follow-up questionnaires are mailed to a sample of each graduating class for a number of years after their initial participation.
    Contents of this site include:

    • Press Releases
    • Publications
    • Data Tables and Figures (e.g. Drug Trends, Cigarette Trends)
    • Purpose and Design of the Monitoring the Future Study
    • Principal Investigators
    • Links to Related Sites


    National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Addiction

    Contents of this site include:

    • ETOH Database: The most comprehensive online bibliographic database containing over 100,000 records on alcohol abuse and alcoholism. ETOH is updated monthly and contains research findings from the late 1960s to the present, as well as historical research literature.
    • Quick Facts: Data tables that provide information on a number of alcohol-related topics.


    National Health Interview Survey (NHIS)

    The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) is the principal source of information on the health of the civilian non-institutionalized population of the United States and is one of the major data collection programs of the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). The National Health Survey Act of 1956 provided for a continuing survey and special studies to secure accurate and current statistical information on the amount, distribution, and effects of illness and disability in the United States and the services rendered for or because of such conditions. NHIS data are used widely throughout the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to monitor trends in illness and disability and to track progress toward achieving national health objectives. The data are also used by the public health research community for epidemiological and policy analysis of such timely issues as characterizing those with various health problems and determining barriers to accessing and using appropriate health care.
    Contents include:

    • Survey questionnaires
    • Datasets for selected years
    • Faststats A-Z
    • Data warehouse
    • Publications and Information Products
    • Related Links