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Principles and Practices for a Federal Statistical Agency Sixth Edition (2017) / Chapter Skim
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Practice 7: Respect for the Privacy and Autonomy of Data Providers
Pages 91-96

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From page 91...
... A statistical agency should also respect and enhance respondents' autonomy -- in the sense of their ability to make informed decisions -- when they are asked to participate in a voluntary program to collect data. Even for mandatory data collections, such as the decennial and economic censuses, a statistical agency respects its respondents by giving them as much information as possible about the reasons for the collection and making it as easy as possible for them to respond.
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From page 92...
... Many agencies apply the principles of cognitive psychology to questionnaire design (National Research Council, 1984) and make use of paradata, in order to increase the accuracy of the survey results and make more efficient use of the time and effort of respondents (National Research Council, 2013a:Ch.
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From page 93...
... Such strategies appear to be more necessary -- and more challenging -- than ever before. PROTECTING AND RESPECTING THE AUTONOMY OF HUMAN RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS Collecting data from individuals for research purposes with federal funds falls under a series of regulations, principles, and best practices that the federal government has developed over a period of more than 50 years (see National Research Council, 2003b, 2014c)
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From page 94...
... to determine that the design meets ethical requirements for protection.74 Not all federal statistical agencies consider all of their information collections to be subject to IRB review. They should, nonetheless, strive to incorporate the spirit of the Common Rule in the design and operation of all activities that involve data collection from individual respondents.
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From page 95...
... . Through a continuing relationship of mutual respect and trust, a statistical agency can better understand the strengths and limitations of a custodial agency's data and help identify and implement improvements in the data that are useful to both agencies.75 An important consideration in using administrative records is whether informed consent of the individuals or organizations that provided their information to the custodial agency is required.
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  • human research
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  • enjoins agencies
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  • common rule
  • cognitive psychology
  • agencies apply
  • develop procedures
  • data collections


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