Navigating around restricted data:
Tips and tools for finding available data related to sensitive topics in ICPSR

Are you looking for data but running into restricted data? Do you not qualify for restricted data access but have research topics that deal with restricted topics? Do you lack enough time to go through the IRB or data use agreement process? 

Don’t give up! There are ways to find readily available data on almost any topic. We will show you how to find data related to your research topic even if some of it is restricted. All you need is to know where and how to look.

ICPSR holds over 16,000 studies, less than 2,000 of which contain restricted data. 

Five ways to find data related to your research topic even if some of it is restricted data:

1. Understand why some data are restricted. Restrictions are put on accessing data to follow important research ethics which protect research participants and researchers. This section will explain the important reason why data are restricted on certain topics. 
2. Understand the difference between summary statistics and data. Summary statistics may be more useful to you than data, which means you don’t have to worry about accessing restricted data! This section will give you questions to ask yourself, tools to use, and resources for summary statistics. 
3. Only search publicly available data and learn how to identify restricted data. Save time and effort by being able to identify studies with restricted data or to exclude restricted data from your searches. This section will show you how!
4. View sample searches for non-restricted data on sensitive topics. Find sample searches in four big categories of research that often contain restricted data: health, crime/prisoners, families/children, and social issues (i.e. race). This section links to sample searches for you to explore.
5. Learn how to decide if you do need restricted data and what you need to do in order to access it. This section will help you learn how to read ICPSR’s studies’ pages to find information to make the decision about applying for restricted data or not.