Tiered Access to Research Data for Secondary Analysis

Abstract

As the richness of research data for secondary analysis has grown, disclosure risk has also increased. Research data have expanded in their gradation of the risks associated with both re-identification and harm, which has created a need for multiple levels of access controls beyond public and restricted access. Public-access data have typically been available for download from websites with minimal conditions on how data may be used while restricted-access data usually require an application and formal authorization process. The old paradigm of classifying data as public-access or restricted-access is no longer sufficient. Access to research data requires more nuance to ensure the protection of human subjects.