NSF/NCSES Individual Data Use Agreements

National Science Foundation
National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics
INDIVIDUAL DATA USE AGREEMENT FOR NSF STAFF AND CONTRACTORS
Data collected by the Survey of Earned Doctorates (SED), Survey of Doctorate Recipients (SDR), National
Survey of Recent College Graduates (NSRCG), and the National Survey of College Graduates (NSCG) may
be used only for the purpose for which they were obtained – statistical analysis and reporting. Any effort to
determine the identity of any respondent or to use or disclose the information for any purpose other than
statistical reporting and analysis could violate the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical
Efficiency Act of 2002 (CIPSEA), 44 U.S.C. 3501 et. sec.; section 14(i) of the National Science Foundation
Act of 1950, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 1873(i); and/or the Privacy Act of 1974 as amended, 5 U.S.C. 552a.
The National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) is the designated System Manager for
these Privacy Act systems of records covering this statistical data. NCSES has taken every effort to assure
that the confidentiality of the data is carefully protected. Considerable harm could ensue if there were
unauthorized access to or disclosure by any user of the data files, of identifiable information concerning an
individual who responded to the survey. Therefore, the undersigned gives the following assurances with
respect to these data files:
(1)

I will not use the data in the file for any purpose other than statistical reporting, analysis, or
other uses as authorized by NCSES. I understand that information from the files will be
publicly disclosed only in statistical summaries which do not disclose information about any
individual, and only after written authorization from NCSES.;

(2)

I will not disclose the data sets or any part of them to any other person or organization,
except as specifically allowed and instructed under fully ratified contracts or license
agreements;

(3)

I will not use the data sets to attempt to learn the identity of, or to gain information
concerning, any person included in the data sets unless the task is directly related to survey
administrative tasks under the NCSES contract; and

(4)

If the identity of any person should be discovered inadvertently, I will not make use of this
knowledge and will advise the Director, NCSES:
(a) of the incident;
(b) how the information about the individual will be safeguarded; and that
(c) no one else will be told of the information discovered.

_______________________________
Print Name
_______________________________
Signature
_______________________________
Organization
_____________________________________

Date
NOTE: Data Use Agreements must be renewed annually if access to the confidential data is to be continued. Survey
Contractor’s Staff are exempt from the condition (4) above when the identification is directly involved in the survey
conduct.

NSF/NCSES March 2012