Confidentiality Issues Arising from the Integration of Remotely Sensed Data with Social Science Survey and Other Self-Identifying Data

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Remote sensing technology creates significant scientific opportunities and possibilities for improving the quality of information available for public policy. It does so by linking high-resolution observation of the physical evidence of human activity, and it offers potentials for linking remotely sensed data with data from survey research and other social observations. These data linkages can provide valuable new insights about a broad range of topics and issues. For example, they can improve understanding of the causes and consequences of land-use dynamics, such as urban development, agricultural extensification, and deforestation, and they can help identify human activities and societal sectors within specific geographical regions that are particularly vulnerable to natural disasters and environmental changes. These possibilities also create difficult tradeoffs among data quality, data sharing, and confidentiality, however. The tradeoffs have become more difficult as federal agencies urge grantees to make their data widely available while maintaining or increasing concern with the privacy rights of research subjects. This award will help support a National Research Council panel under the Committee on Human Dimensions of Global Change (CHDGC) to conduct a workshop to address the scientific value of linking remotely sensed and self-identifying social science data. Among topics to be addressed at the workshop are tradeoffs involving data accessibility, confidentiality, and data quality; associated legal issues; costs and benefits of different methods for addressing confidentiality in the dissemination of such data; and appropriate models for addressing the issues raised. The panel will produce a report that would include selected background papers from the workshop and a consensus statement by the panel summarizing ideas presented at the workshop regarding key conceptual issues, the state and progress of the field, and options for addressing the tension between open access and confidentiality in this area of data and research management.This workshop will provide new insights that are of value to a broad range of users, including social science researchers, government agencies that produce and use remotely sensed and socioeconomic data, and individuals and organizations engaged with interests in policy making and human and social dynamics. Federal agencies have an interest in promoting the scientific advances that can come from linking spatially explicit and self-identifying data. The workshop will help develop guidelines for the conduct of research and for data sharing that can reconcile the competing demands of openness and confidentiality. Institutional review boards have the same need. Workshop results also will influence the development of procedures governing data collection and sharing. This award complements awards made by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and other federal agencies.