PGAS: FAQ

WHY IS THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA DOING THIS STUDY?
The University of Pennsylvania conducts research that concerns the health and wellbeing of people locally, throughout the state, and across the country. The people who are conducting this study are researchers, teachers, and doctors who conduct studies like this one to find out how alcohol is used when people get shot with guns. You can find out more about the University of Pennsylvania at the website (www.upenn.edu).

WHO IS SPONSORING (PAYING FOR) THE STUDY?
The study is sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (www.niaaa.nih.gov/).

WHERE IS THE CALLING DONE FOR THE STUDY?
All telephone calls for the study are made from DataStat, an Ann Arbor, Michigan company that conducts telephone surveys.

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY?
There is a lot that isn’t known about how drinking alcohol and carrying guns make people more likely or less likely to be victims of violence. Studies such as this one are done to find out about the relationship between people's use of alcohol and guns and whether they will be victims of gun-related violence. We hope the results will be helpful in preventing injuries from guns. For two years, we will be conducting this survey thousands of people who live in Philadelphia.

HOW DID YOU GET MY TELEPHONE NUMBER?
Everyone’s telephone number was drawn from a list that we created ourselves. All of the numbers we use start with your area code and with the same telephone exchange, which is the first 3 numbers. When we call these numbers, some of them turn out to be real telephone numbers and other numbers give us just a message saying there is no phone connected. The method we use means that every telephone number in your community has an equal chance of being called, and it is strictly by chance that yours was one of them.

HOW CAN I BE SURE THIS IS AUTHENTIC?
If you ever have questions about our study feel free to call the University of Pennsylvania at 215-746-0149 and refer to "the Philadelphia Gun and Alcohol Study." You can also contact DataStat to ask questions about the survey.

IS MY PARTICIPATION CONFIDENTIAL?
Yes, most definitely! After the interview is done the answers are put onto a computer disk without names and without telephone numbers. All answers that have been given are deleted from our computers. None of the information at the University of Pennsylvania can be linked to any single person. In this way no one person can ever be identified. Also the matter of confidentiality is terribly important to the success our department at the University of Pennsylvania, because we do a lot of surveys. Therefore, we are very careful to protect people’s anonymity.

CAN I GET A COPY OF THE STUDY'S RESULTS?
Yes, we would be glad to send it to you if you will email us your mailing address, or you can look at our website and see results here. We are conducting this survey over the course of two years, and we hope to have the final results ready shortly after that.

WILL ANYONE BE ABLE TO FIND OUT THE IDENTITIES OF SHOOTING VICTIMS THROUGH THE STUDY?
No, absolutely not! In fact, at the University of Pennsylvania we will not know the names, street addresses, or any other direct identifiers of any shooting victims enrolled in the study. Because information like this has no impact on our analysis or the study results, we are not collecting it. We will also make no attempt to find out the identities of shooting victims who are part of the study.

WILL THE DATA BE AVAILABLE FOR USE BY RESEARCHERS AT OTHER INSTITUTIONS?
Yes, upon completion of the study, a dataset will be available for research purposes. A provisional version of the of the "codebook" (still under development) can be downloaded here to review the data collection instruments and lists of data fields that are being collected.