Public Datasets and Data Use Agreements

Restricted datasets

If you are a faculty or staff member working with a restricted dataset that requires a data use agreement, contact the Office of Sponsored Programs at [email protected] for assistance in reviewing and signing the agreement. You should not sign a data use agreement before consulting with the Office of Sponsored Programs. It is the policy of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, that the university will not review or sign a data use agreement on behalf of students. If you are a student who wishes to enter into a data use agreement for a restricted dataset, contact the Office of Sponsored Programs for guidance.

Public use datasets

Public use datasets are data files prepared by investigators or data suppliers with the intent of making them available for public use. The data available to the public does not identify individuals and is not maintained in a readily identifiable form.

The public use datasets in the following list of public use datasets have been reviewed by the Institutional Review Board with the intent of making them available for use with no need for further review as long as the following criteria are met:

• Research will not involve any merging of any of the datasets in such a way that individuals might be identified.
• The researcher will not enhance the public datasets with identifiable or potentially identifiable data.

IRB review is required in the following cases:

• If investigators will merge or enhance data sets in such a way that individuals might be identified
• If the dataset is restricted use or if submission of a proposal to the data owner is required
• If the investigator will seek to obtain additional information from the database owner
• If a data use agreement is involved

Investigators who wish to have datasets added to the inventory can submit a public dataset nomination form to the IRB for review. If the dataset meets the established criteria, it will be added to the inventory.