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The Challenges of Conducting Intrastate Policy Surveillance: A Methods Note on County and City Laws in Indiana
Lindsey Sanner1, Sean Grant1, Heather Walter-McCabe1
1Lindsey Sanner is with the Center for Health Policy, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health, Indiana University, Indianapolis. Sean Grant is with the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health, Indiana University, Indianapolis. Heather Walter-McCabe is with the Department of Social Work and Law and the Robert H. McKinney School of Law, Indiana University, Indianapolis. Ross D. Silverman is with the Department of Health Policy and Management, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health, and the Robert H. McKinney School of Law, Indiana University, Indianapolis.
Policy surveillance of local laws faces challenges due to complex legal structures and poor data access. Improving online accessibility of these laws is crucial for understanding their health impacts.
Area of Science:
- Public Health Law
- Health Policy Research
- Social Determinants of Health
Background:
- Policy surveillance is key to understanding law's role in health.
- Research often overlooks variations within states (intrastate).
- Intrastate policy surveillance faces challenges in accessing and organizing local laws.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine intrastate policy surveillance challenges.
- To highlight methodological difficulties in collecting local laws.
- To propose solutions for improving data accessibility.
Main Methods:
- Case study conducted in Indiana, a state with complex legal and governmental structures.
- Utilized online code libraries, jurisdictional websites, and in-person document collection.
- Documented time and resource expenditure for data acquisition.
Main Results:
- Obtaining county and city ordinances was resource-intensive.
- Variations in local government structures and technology adoption complicated data collection.
- Significant effort was required to access and curate local legal documents.
Conclusions:
- Intrastate policy surveillance requires overcoming significant methodological hurdles.
- There is a critical need for organized, searchable, and open-access online systems for local laws.
- Enhanced data accessibility is vital for achieving the goals of intrastate policy surveillance and understanding health impacts.