Research Methods in the Study of Substance Abuse (PDF)

Jonathan B. VanGeest, PhD

Jonathan VanGeest is a Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Kent State University. His main areas of expertise include racial and ethnic disparities in health care, limited health literacy, and care outcomes associated with structural changes in medicine.  He also has extensive experience in survey research methodology, program evaluation and research on substance abuse issues among homeless persons and other marginalized risk groups.

Timothy P. Johnson, PhD


Timothy Johnson is the Director of the Survey Research Laboratory and a Professor in the Department of Public Administration at the University of Illinois at Chicago.  His main areas of expertise include health disparities, survey methodology and health behaviors in disadvantaged populations. Within the field of survey methodology, his work has focused primarily on sources of measurement and nonresponse error. Johnson has also invested considerable effort in examining the health behaviors of disadvantaged populations. Among the disadvantaged populations he has worked with are homeless persons, immigrants, cultural minorities, criminal justice populations and mental health populations. Some of the health behaviors he has examined among these populations include cancer screening, nutrition, physical activity, tobacco use, alcohol consumption and drug abuse.

Sonia Alemagno, PhD
Sonia Alemagno is the Dean of the College of Public Health and a Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at Kent State University. She has focused her research on substance abuse and HIV/STD prevention, particularly examining public health services delivered within criminal justice settings such as prisons and detention centers.  Honors include a National Institutes of Health Career Development Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the University of Akron Outstanding Researcher Award in 2005. In addition, she has

“This is an up-to-date look at the most widely used methodologies and statistical analyses applied to research studies examining the use and abuse of alcohol and illegal drugs. … This is a highly technical book aimed primarily at researchers in this area. … This book is valuable to those in the field as well as anyone trying to understand the validity of the methodology, analysis, and conclusions of various studies before applying them to influence policy or treatment.” (Michael Easton, Doody's Book Reviews, September, 2017)