Community-level Data Use Agreement

NOTE: A PDF version of this document is also available.

The China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) began in 1989 and has, to date (January, 2007), collected six rounds of data. CHNS2006 data collection has completed and a CHNS2009 is planned. Beginning with CHNS2004, the questionnaire is restructured into adult, child and household forms to facilitate rapid data entry and cleaning. The CHNS obtains information on health, reproduction, nutrition, income, assets, expenditures, employment, and education from members of Chinese households and from the households themselves. Additional data on aging and physical activity and inactivity were added for CHNS1997 and subsequent surveys, and data on mass media use were added for CHNS2000 and subsequent surveys. The survey has also collected information about the communities in which the households are located.

CHNS data sets at the household-level, individual-level, and several lower levels are distributed via the World Wide Web. In order to safeguard the confidentiality of respondents, community-level data sets are NOT available through the Web, since they could be used to deduce survey locations.

Community-level data can, however, be useful to legitimate researchers studying regional differences in outcomes. In order for CHNS project staff to distribute them, while abiding by requirements of the Health Sciences Institutional Review Board at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, it is necessary that potential users of community-level data agree to follow the guidelines and restrictions listed below. In signing a Data Use Agreement, the researcher acknowledges that any violation of its terms may result in his/her becoming subject to punitive legal action.

Terms of Agreement

In order to protect the anonymity of respondents to the China Health and Nutrition Survey, the undersigned researcher, who is applying to receive community-level CHNS data (hereinafter called "confidential data"), and also his/her parent institution (center, department, or other legally established entity), agree to abide by the following guidelines:

The researcher will use confidential data only for the purposes he/she outlines in document 1 referred to in article F, below.
The researcher will not share these confidential data with anyone whose name does not appear in document 2 referred to in article F, below. "Sharing" includes not only providing data as received from CHNS staff, but also providing secondary information obtained from the confidential data. This is not meant to hinder publication of the results of analyzing confidential data, but publication must not risk the violation of respondents' anonymity.
The researcher will use confidential data only on the premises of the department or institute whose chair or director has signed this agreement. Before these data may be moved to another department or institute, a new agreement specific to the new location must be submitted for approval, including all applicable signatures.
The researcher affirms that he/she has the capacity to restrict access to confidential data. Such capacity may include features of a computer operating system, software that removes electronic images of data from physical storage devices, locking cabinets in which to store the CD-Rs, disks or tapes on which confidential data, including back-up copies, are written, and the training of personnel who will handle confidential data. The China Health and Nutrition Survey reserves the right to judge the adequacy of such protections.
The researcher will use the restrictive measures--such as those listed in article D above--to which he/she has access in safeguarding CHNS confidential data.
The researcher encloses with this agreement the following documents:
1. a brief description of the research he/she intends to undertake using confidential CHNS data
2. a list of the names and organizational affiliations of all those with whom he/she will engage in this research
3. a description of the means by which he/she will restrict access to confidential CHNS data, as outlined in article D, above
The researcher will report to Dr. Shufa Du, at shufa_du@unc.edu, any breach of this agreement within 15 days of his/her discovery of such breach.

Within approximately two weeks of receiving a completed data use agreement and the three necessary enclosures, CHNS staff will notify the undersigned researcher of their decision whether to approve the nature of the proposed research and the means by which the researcher will restrict access to confidential data. If these two approvals are given, within another two weeks CHNS staff will send the requested data on CD-R to the researcher, in SAS XPORT format, via U.S. mail.

The following form must be completed in full and the original copy mailed, along with the supplemental documentation outlined in article F above, to:

Dr. Shufa Du
Carolina Population Center
CB # 8120, University Square
The University of North Carolina
123 West Franklin Street, University Square East
Chapel Hill, NC 27516-3997
USA

Name, Title, and Email Address of Researcher:

____________________________________________________________________

Researcher's Institutional Address:

____________________________________________________________________

Signature of Researcher:

____________________________________________________________________

Date of Signing:

____________________________________________________________________

Name of Department or Institute:

____________________________________________________________________

Name and Title of Department Chair or Institute Director:

____________________________________________________________________

Chair/Director's Institutional Address:

____________________________________________________________________

Signature of Chair/Director:

____________________________________________________________________

Date of Signing:

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