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3. Data Collection Staffing
The magnitude of the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) required a
field data collection management structure robust enough to support the interviewing staff and
flexible enough to manage an ever-changing variety of issues. The basic management structure
remained unchanged from prior surveys: field supervisors managed States and substate regions
and reported to regional supervisors who then reported to regional directors who reported
directly to the national field director. This chapter discusses the process of staffing the 2003
NSDUH data collection effort.
3.1 Regional Directors
Regional directors (RDs) managed data collection within defined territories of the nation.
Reporting directly to the national field director, the RDs, working with the project director and
the national field director, served as the management team for all data collection operations.
The nation was divided among 4 RDs for data collection for 2003. All RDs were survey
managers with many years of experience at RTI and on NSDUH. Staff for three of the four RD
positions for the 2003 NSDUH had served as RDs during previous surveys. An experienced and
highly successful regional supervisor was promoted to the fourth RD position. Beginning with a
transition time in the last quarter of 2002, she assumed full leadership in January, 2003.
Each of the RDs managed a staff of regional supervisors (RSs), who in turn managed a
staff of four to six field supervisors (FSs) who managed the team of field interviewers (FIs) in
their individual states or assigned areas. Each RD also managed a small staff of survey
specialists at RTI who assisted the RD in a variety of functions, including monitoring various
reports and measures of production and quality, and maintaining spreadsheets to monitor costs.
In addition, each RD worked with one of two traveling field interviewer (TFI) managers who
coordinated the work of TFIs within the RD's region.
RDs also had project-wide ancillary functions not specific to their region. These included
coordinating counting and listing (C/L) activities and TFI manager work. The survey specialists
assigned to the RDs assisted in these functional areas as well.
Exhibit 3.1 displays the RD regions and management task assignments at the end of the
2003 NSDUH. Listed under each RD is the structure containing the number of regional
supervisors and field supervisors, geographic regions, and the ancillary management functions.
3.2 Regional Supervisors
Regional supervisors were the direct managers of four to six FSs. Reporting to an RD,
RSs were responsible for all data collection activities in the state or states in their region. Each of
the eight large states was supervised by a single RS. The 43 smaller States, including the District
of Columbia, were clustered geographically to be managed by the RSs. Of the 10 RS positions
on the supervisory team for 2003, all had served as RSs during the 2002 survey. See Exhibit 3.1
for the final groupings of States managed by each RS.
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