Online ERANID database – methodological note
This database contains information gathered in the course of the ERANID project during 2013 and 2014. Principally, it contains details of research projects on illicit drugs carried out since 2010 within the six ERANID countries and funded by the European Committee: Belgium; France; Italy; Portugal; The Netherlands; and the United Kingdom.
Data collection
The information contained within this database was collected individually by the main ERANID partner in each of the participating countries using common questionnaires. Partners were given flexibility in how they carried out the task in order to accommodate differences in individual country’s drug-related research structures and to reflect the different roles of the partner organisations within these structures (some were research funders, others were research institutes). The main inclusion criteria were that research had to cover illicit drugs and have been undertaken since 2010.
Response rate
As with all projects based on the voluntary return of questionnaires, the findings are dependent on the response rate of the participants. Partners employed numerous strategies to increase response rate including email and telephone follow-up. Many of the ERANID partners are responsible for the main illicit drugs research funding programmes in their countries and, as such, have access to information on nationally-funded illicit drugs research, which reduces the impact of a poor response rate from researchers. This type of research has the greatest coverage within the database. For countries with centralised illicit drugs funding programmes, the coverage of projects within the database should be high. Information on funding programmes and policy frameworks for each of the countries is included under the heading ‘ABOUT’ in the general part of the website.
Data Coverage
The coverage of the database with regards to all illicit drugs research in a given country will be influenced by the complexity of the illicit drugs research field within that country. In countries where the field is diverse, funded by multiple sources, containing many actors, or where the field is large, it will be difficult to capture all ongoing or recently completed projects. For example, illicit drugs research in the United Kingdom is funded by many government departments, is carried out by many researchers and there is no central research programme. Where relevant, partners attempted to address this problem, for example by encouraging prominent researchers and research institutes to complete the questionnaire. Nevertheless, this database will not capture all illicit drugs research carried out within a country.
Caution must therefore be taken in the interpretation of the statistics contained within the database, particularly when comparing between countries as the coverage of different types of research may differ. The ERANID project has sought to, and continues to seek, ways of improving the monitoring of illicit drugs research in Europe.
Access to search request tool on drug research projects
Access to statistics on drug research projects
