Sharing and Accessing Administrative Data: Promising Practices and Lessons Learned from the Child Maltreatment Incidence Data Linkages Project

Publication Date: June 7, 2022
The first page of the brief, entitled "Sharing and Accessing Administrative Data: Promising Practices and Lessons Learned from the Child Maltreatment Incidence Data Linkages Project"

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  • Published: 2022

Introduction

Accurate and ongoing surveillance of the incidence of child maltreatment and related risk and protective factors can help to inform policy and programs as well as shape prevention and intervention efforts. One promising approach to capturing this information is by linking local, state, or federal administrative records, such as those from child welfare, health, social services, education, public safety, and other agencies.

The Child Maltreatment Incidence Data Linkages project identified five research groups (sites) with experience using linked administrative data to examine child maltreatment incidence and related risk and protective factors and supported these sites to enhance their approaches to administrative data linkage through acquisition of new data sources, use of new methods, or replication of existing methods. The project assessed the feasibility of enhancing existing administrative linkages to produce new information on child maltreatment incidence and related risk and protective factors.

Purpose

This brief highlights promising practices for sharing and accessing data and discusses lessons learned related to four key activities essential to sharing and accessing data: (1) developing agreements for data sharing and use; (2) protecting the data’s security, confidentiality, and privacy; (3) securing institutional review board (IRB) and other approvals; and (4) accessing the data.

Key Findings and Highlights

  • To build trust with data partners, researchers should make sure they know the federal, state, and local laws and agency-specific regulations regarding data access and collaborate with liaisons in public agencies.
  • Organizations interested in enhancing data linkages might be able to modify or amend existing data use agreements (DUAs) or research permissions to conduct their work. A broadly specified IRB that covers analyses of linked administrative data might also support these types of projects.
  • Having a principal investigator (PI) with experience and knowledge of the IRB process may simplify the approval process. Project teams can use this experience to submit thorough materials, resulting in fewer revisions to the submitted IRB package.
  • Although DUAs often require stringent data security protocols, research centers working with administrative data might already have such protocols in place. Collaborations with external entities to conduct data linkages are an additional means to ensure the privacy and confidentiality of personally identifiable (PII) information.
  • Using publicly available data or data that a variety of users frequently use (where there are established procedures in place to access the data) can simplify data sharing.
  • Plans and timelines for projects involving administrative data linkages should build in room for delays, especially related to data acquisition, and identify opportunities to accelerate other activities or use the time to prepare for analyses.

Methods

The study team conducted a qualitative, cross-site feasibility study involving coding, collecting, and analyzing data from multiple sources to gather information on sites’ experiences. The team interviewed key respondents from participating sites once in the early phase of each project (within four months of the start date) and a second time approximately one year later.  Respondents included principal investigators (PIs) and co-principal investigators (co-PIs) from each site; administrators, directors, or managers at partnering government agencies or other organizations that provided administrative data; information technology or data managers; and research staff. Additional sources of data included site documents, notes and materials from cross-site learning network meetings and other technical assistance activities, and quarterly questionnaires on sites’ use of resources.

Citation

Beth Varley and Claire Smither Wulsin (2022). Sharing and Accessing Administrative Data: Promising Practices and Lessons Learned from the Child Maltreatment Incidence Data Linkages Project. OPRE Report #2022-107, Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Glossary

PI:
Principle Investigator