Improving Access to and Confidentiality of Research Data Report of a Workshop (2000) / Chapter Skim
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5 Current Agency and Organization Practices
5 Current Agency and Organization Practices
Pages 37-50
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From page 37... ...
Alice Robbin provided an overview of results from a survey on the statistical disclosure limitation (SDL) practices used by government agencies and research organizations that distribute public-use microdata files with longitudinal, linked administrative, or contextual data for small areas.
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From page 38... ...
On the other hand, the survey revealed considerable variation across organizations in terms of knowledge about SDL techniques. This variation is a function of the extent of practitioners' knowledge about deductive disclosure, the type of organization, and the timing of decisions related to release of public-use files.
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From page 39... ...
The Census Bureau also has a Disclosure Review Board, which reviews microdata sets prior to release. NCHS has an IRB; a data confidentiality committee; and a data confidentiality officer, who makes final decisions about SDL techniques for public-use data.
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From page 40... ...
The Internet makes access to public-use data increasingly easy; this ease of access facilitates the research process, while also increasing the risk of deductive disclosure. The survey findings are generally consistent with the body of empirical evidence that has accumulated on organizational decision making.
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From page 41... ...
The result is that, in some cases, statutory confidentiality requirements go unmet, while in others, data are overly restricted. To facilitate dissemination of information about good SDL practices and standards, Robbin, labine, and Koball recommended producing and circulating a bibliography of key publications that describe evaluative deductive disclosure methods.
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From page 42... ...
Data users have important knowledge to contribute during the early stages of organizational decision making on the practices to be employed. Checklist on Disclosure Potential of Proposed Data Releases The introduction to the Checklist (Interagency Confidentiality and Data Access Group, 1999:1 )
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From page 43... ...
Zarate argued that there is a real research need to develop empirical evidence to justify recommendations regarding geographic specificity. In fact, the disclosure risk posed by geographic delimitation can be assessed only in the context of other variables that are available in data records, as well as information about ease of external linkage.
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From page 44... ...
And Garnett Picot of Statistics Canada outlined his agency's current restricted access procedures, as well as its plans to establish several research data centers. The following sections summarize the features of the three principal kinds of restricted access arrangements as presented and discussed at the workshop, as well as one special procedure involving respondent consent that has been used by Statistics Canada.
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From page 45... ...
Penalties available to universities and other licensing organizations are generally of a different kind: immediate loss of access and denial of future access to data, forfeiture of a cash deposit, notification of violations to federal agencies that fund research grants, and possible liability to civil suits for violating contract provisions. Research Data Centers The Census Bureau pioneered the distribution of public-use microdata files from the decennial census and household surveys.
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From page 46... ...
Users are charged a basic fee for use of the center's facilities and an additional fee for any programming assistance provided by the center staff. Statistics Canada recently decided to establish six to eight research data centers to provide access to data from five new longitudinal surveys of households and persons, including one with linked employer data.
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From page 47... ...
The results have been mixed; a small evaluation survey and informal contacts with researchers have indicated that the system is judged by some to be cumbersome to use and not sufficiently interactive. Respondent Consent Procedure Section 12 of the Canadian Statistics Act permits Statistics Canada to share nonpublic survey data with an incorporated organization for statistical purposes, provided that survey respondents have given their permission to do so.
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From page 48... ...
Both the Census Bureau and NCHS, for example, have concluded that they do not have the legal authority to issue licenses that would allow researchers to use restricted data sets at their own facilities. Some workshop participants suggested that the Census Bureau should make restricted data files of other agencies available at its research data centers.
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From page 49... ...
CURRENT AGENCYAND ORGANIZATION PRACTICES 49 rily on the effectiveness of automated screening systems and the vigilance of agency staff responsible for manual reviews of outputs prior to their release to users. Most arrangements for restricted access are time-limited, and licensees are generally required to return or destroy their files and derived work files containing potentially identifiable records.
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