Data from Start to Finish: The People, Processes, and Timespans Associated with Disseminating Data for Secondary Use

ICPSR performs a valuable service to the research community by taking in research data and making those data amenable to secondary use. Doing so involves many people and processes to ensure that sensitive data are handled responsibly and individuals who were not involved in the original study can use the data without consulting the data producers. ICPSR staff work closely with data producers to accomplish this; however, the scope of what is involved to archive data and make them available is often opaque to researchers. This poster will describe the people, processes, and time spans involved from the time ICPSR staff begin talking with data producers about their data, through the post-release support of data.