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Expanding Access to Research Data Reconciling Risks and Opportunities (2005) / Chapter Skim
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Executive Summary
Pages 1-6

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From page 1...
... The risk of providing increased access to microdata is increased risk of breaching the confidentiality of the data. Both data collection and research are decentralized activities in the United States.
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From page 2...
... To meet society's needs for high-quality research and statistics, the nation's statistical and research agencies must provide both unrestricted access to anonymized public-use files and restricted access to detailed, individually identifiable confidential data for researchers under carefully specified conditions. Research using detailed confidential data is needed not only for wellinformed policy making but also to improve the quality of public-use files, which are the most widely used microdata products made available by statistical and other data collection agencies.
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From page 3...
... The panel offers four recommendations on basic issues of documentation and access: · maintenance of bibliographies of research and policy analysis publications by government and nongovernment data collection agencies in order to provide tangible evidence of the benefits of making data widely available for analysis; · use of a variety of modes for data access, including restricted access to confidential data and unrestricted access to appropriately altered public-use data, in order to meet research needs for high-quality data with different levels of detail and precision; · research to guide more efficient allocation of resources among different data access modes; and · greater involvement of users in planning modes of access to agencies' data in order to better accommodate their needs. The panel offers four recommendations focused specifically on public-use data.
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From page 4...
... Looking more closely at restricted access to confidential data, the panel offers five recommendations on research data centers, remote access, and licensing agreements: · for the Census Bureau, broadening interpretation of the criteria for access to data, maintaining a continuous cycle for reviewing research proposals, and taking account of prior scientific review of those proposals in order to facilitate and speed researcher access; · research by statistical and other agencies that sponsor data collection on cost-effective means of providing secure access through remote data access mechanisms, with the aim of increasing the availability of remote access to confidential data; · the use of licensing agreements by statistical and other agencies (that do not now have them) for access to confidential data, and expanding the data files for which a license may be obtained; · development of flexible, consistent standards for licensing agreements and implementation procedures by statistical agencies, with the involvement of data users; and · inclusion of auditing procedures and appropriate legal penalties in licensing agreements, for the willful misuse of confidential data, in order to balance expanded access with appropriate confidentiality safeguards.
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From page 5...
... Because the panel believes that laws and enforcement alone are inadequate for protecting confidential data, it offers four recommendations on training, monitoring, and education to complement legal, administrative, and technical protections. The first two are directed to data collection agencies: · providing employees with continually updated written guidelines for confidentiality protection of individually identifiable data and training in confidentiality practices and data management; and · ongoing research into violations of confidentiality protection procedures and breaches of confidentiality that may occur, as well as the causes and consequences of those breaches.
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Key Terms

  • confidential data
  • collection agencies
  • restricted access
  • licensing agreements
  • confidentiality protection

  • remote access
  • identifiable data
  • sponsor data
  • data providers
  • data users

  • research purposes
  • detailed confidential
  • detailed microdata
  • public attitudes
  • wider access

  • individually identifiable
  • unrestricted access
  • expanded access
  • willful misuse
  • data leads

  • data widely
  • nongovernment data
  • remote data
  • data entry
  • confidential research

  • reviewing research
  • ongoing research
  • confidential microdata
  • meet research
  • research proposals


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