Data guidelines are technical documentation on how to interpret statistics and analyze data. This includes guidelines on the use of statistics, interpreting data, working with small numbers, etc.
The Assessment Operations Group in the Washington State Department of Health is coordinating the development of guidelines for public health assessment. The guidelines promote good professional practice among staff involved in assessment activities within the Washington State Department of Health and Local Health Jurisdictions. They focus on issues commonly encountered in public health practice and on issues unique to Washington state. The guidelines are intended for audiences with differing levels of public health assessment training. They assume a basic knowledge of epidemiology and biostatistics and are not intended to recreate basic texts and other sources of information.
- Confidence Intervals for Public Health Assessment (PDF)
- Human Subjects – Ethical Data Collection (PDF)
- Racial and Ethnic Groupings in Data Analyses (PDF)
- Rates for Public Health Assessment (PDF)
- Rural-Urban Classification Systems (PDF)
- Small Numbers (PDF) Small Numbers Graphic (PDF)
* Population Denominators
(Due to outdated information, 'Population Denominators' guideline is temporarily unavailable. For information, contact the State Epidemiologist for Non-Infectious Conditions)