Welcome, Researchers
The TAHS welcomes the use of our data sets by outside researchers. Pre-existing de-identified data sets or biospecimens can be made available to researchers and students. However, the TAHS has strict practices and policies regarding the use and sharing of biospecimens across academic institutions. If biospecimens are required, the applicant must first consult with Prof. Shyamali Dharmage, the TAHS Principal Investigator, to determine the feasibility of using TAHS biospecimens in collaborative research.
Use of TAHS data terms and conditions
Before requesting access to the TAHS de-identified data sets, please review the TAHS Publication Policies and confirm that your institution can agree with the terms and conditions as written. All researchers requesting TAHS data sets must complete a Study Proposal form for approval of the TAHS steering committee. The Study Proposal is used to determine whether your research proposal is feasible and whether our data is appropriate to meet your study objectives.
Application process to use TAHS data
The TAHS resource contains key respiratory outcomes, collected at multiple time points that comprise of parent-completed and self-completed questionnaires of probands, siblings and parents. The probands also completed a questionnaire for their offspring at 2 time points. Lung function assessments were also undertaken at various timepoints. In addition to respiratory outcomes, the TAHS also collected environmental data, other clinical measurements, and biological samples across the follow up studies.
Click here to see what data are available.
Please review the TAHS Publication Policies, and ensure you can comply with these.
Develop a proposal on the study proposal template and send it to the TAHS data manager, Dr Gayan Bowatte (gayan.bowatte@unimelb.edu.au), for approval.
Tips for a successful Study Proposal application:
- A clear research rationale.
- Present a Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) to demonstrate which TAHS data will be required for the project.
- Clear statistical approaches to analyse data.
Submit the appropriate Data Request form(s)
to request the specific data sets/variables outlined in your research proposal.
You may access all of the TAHS questionnaires (including laboratory booklets) and data dictionaries from the 1968 study to the most recent completed study in 2016 by clicking here.
The requested data will be sent securely to the email address entered into the data request form. Datasets will be delivered in STATA format (or Excel format to use with other statistical packages if required)
Please email all data enquiries to the TAHS data manager, Dr Gayan Bowatte (gayan.bowatte@unimelb.edu.au).
Project completion & Data sharing
After your project has been completed, you are expected to return any secondary variables created (additional variables that were created using the TAHS data sets/variables) to the data manager within 1 month of their publication. The contribution of such new secondary variables helps to advance the utilisation of TAHS data, ensuring that a more robust dataset will be available for future research.
Please contact Dr. Gayan Bowatte (gayan.bowatte@unimelb.edu.au) for information on returning secondary variables.
