Audits
To help ensure the security of the restricted data and to prevent breaches of respondent confidentiality, HRS may conduct an audit. The audit process involves an unannounced site inspection of the work site(s) by an independent investigator, who will seek to verify compliance with the user's restricted data security plan. Violations will be the subject of further investigation and may result in withdrawal of data access, among other possible penalties.
Modifying your Agreement
Submit the Modify an Agreement form to make changes to an existing Restricted Data Agreement (RDA), or to make changes to a submitted RDA Application. If you have not already done so and your RDA was created before 11/07/2019, you will need to create a website account and submit the RDA Administrator Registration form.
Modification Type Descriptions
The information and documentation required for each type of modification is detailed below. Unless otherwise specified, attached documents must be in .pdf format.
Annual renewal
Your agreement must be renewed annually. Submit this modification within 30 days of your expiration date to maintain uninterrupted data access.
If you need to make changes to your agreement (add/remove team members, update data security or protection plans, etc.), submit the changes as separate modifications before you submit your annual renewal.
To submit this modification, you need:
- A brief description of how you've used HRS Restricted Data
- A brief description of any changes to your project research plan(s)
- A list of citations for any publications, papers, or reports that used HRS Restricted
- Documentation of IRB approval from your institution
- A Notice of Award or other proof of federal funding
New Annual Renewal Requirements (Effective December 13th, 2021)
Effective December 13th, 2021, as part of the annual renewal process, you must review and resubmit your Data Protection Plan and related documents (Data Security Plan Checklists or HRS RDA NIST 800-171 User Tracking Spreadsheet), including updates where necessary.
Update a project research plan or IRB review
Submit this modification to update the following information for a project:
- IRB review documentation
- Research abstract
- The HRS Restricted data products and variables you intend to use in your research, including planned data analyses
- Why the public data are not adequate for your research purposes
- How the results you plan to export or publish will comply with the requirements of disclosure limitation review
Updated documentation of IRB approval is required to submit this modification.
Submit a CMS DUA
Submit this modification to add a CMS DUA to a project.
Remove team members from an RDA
Submit this modification to remove team members from an RDA. Removed team members will no longer have access to HRS restricted data.
For active Traditional License agreements, one or more completed User Termination Form is required to submit this modification.
Remove team members from a project
Submit this modification to remove team members from a research project.
Add team members to a project
Submit this modification to add team members to a research project.
For each new project team member who was not previously included in your agreement, you need:
- Name
- Role on project
- Address
- Phone number
- Email address
- Current CV
- Indicate if the team member requires access to the data
- a completed Supplemental Agreement with Research Staff for Use of Restricted Data.
To address how and where the new team members will access the data, you may also need to attach:
- An updated Data Protection Plan
- New or updated Traditional License Restricted Data Security Plan Checklist(s)
- An updated HRS RDA NIST 800-171 User Tracking Spreadsheet in .xlsx format
New team members will be asked to create an account on this website and submit the HRS Disclosure Limitation Review Policy Agreement form.
Update a team member's information
Submit this modification to update project roles and data access requirements of a team member.
Name, contact information, and CV can also be updated if the team member does not have their own account on this website.
Request additional data for a project
Submit this modification to request additional data products for a research project.
If you are requesting an updated data product, a Data File Destruction Certification for the original distribution media is required. For information on data destruction methods, review the suggestions in the HRS document Data Destruction Policy and Procedures.
Add a new research project
Submit this modification to add a new research project to an RDA.
To submit this modification, you need:
- Project title and research abstract
- The HRS Restricted data products and variables you intend to use in your research, including planned data analyses
- Why the public data are not adequate for your research purposes
- How the results you plan to export or publish will comply with the requirements of disclosure limitation review
- Documentation of IRB approval from your institution, in .pdf format
Team members already included in your Traditional License agreement can be selected and added to the new project. For each new team member (those not already included on your agreement), you need:
- Name
- Role on project
- Address
- Phone number
- Email address
- Current CV
- a completed Supplemental Agreement with Research Staff for Use of Restricted Data.
To address how and where the new team members will access the data, you may also need to attach:
- An updated Data Protection Plan
- New or updated Traditional License Restricted Data Security Plan Checklist(s)
- An updated HRS RDA NIST 800-171 User Tracking Spreadsheet in .xlsx format
Update a Data Protection Plan
Submit this modification to update the Data Protection Plan and/or associated documents for a Traditional License agreement.
One or more of the following documents is needed to submit this modification:
- An updated Data Protection Plan
- New or updated Traditional License Restricted Data Security Plan Checklist(s)
- An updated HRS RDA NIST 800-171 User Tracking Spreadsheet in .xlsx format
New team members will be asked to create an account on this website and submit the HRS Disclosure Limitation Review Policy Agreement form.
Update funding source
Submit this modification to update the federal funding source for a Traditional License agreement.
A Notice of Award or other proof of federal funding is required to submit this modification.
Terminate a research project
Submit this modification to terminate a research project.
Note that terminating a project does not terminate an agreement. This modification is only useful for agreements with multiple active projects.
Terminate agreement
Submit this modification to terminate an RDA. The principal investigator and all project team members will no longer have access to HRS restricted data.
To submit this modification, you need a list of citations for any publications, papers, or reports that used HRS Restricted Data under this agreement.
When terminating a Traditional License agreement, a Data File Destruction Certification for the distribution media is required. For information on data destruction methods, review the suggestions in the HRS document Data Destruction Policy and Procedures.