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Analytical and Assessment Skills focus on identifying and understanding data, turning data into information for action, assessing needs and assets to address community health needs, developing community health assessments, and using evidence for decision making.
Since evidence-based research is at the core of public health, it’s critical to understand and be able to gather and work with data.
Being able to define a health problem within a population, identify your data needs, and gather data accurately and ethically crosses all the tiers of this domain. Tier 1 (front line/entry-level) staffers should be able to select valid and reliable data and recognize where there are gaps in that data. Tier 2 (program management/supervisory) staffers should be able to go a step further to analyze and interpret data and Tier 3 (senior management/executive-level) staffers should be able to evaluate data, identify trends within it, and then (most importantly) integrate those finding into organizational plans and operations. Finally, using evidence to make decisions cuts across all the tiers.
So what subject areas should a person interested in evaluating and improving their skills within this domain study?
For starters, we suggest Sources of Public Health Data, Data Collection Instruments and Methods, and Public Health Applications of Data. You also will want to make sure you understand Data Integrity and how to identify and address Data Gaps.
In addition, you can explore the resourses below to learn more about the specific competencies in this domain.
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