Case Study
With environmental statistics becoming more visible in the news, it has become more politicized, which makes it harder for the public to both understand and interpret all the different results that are being published. NISS provided a multi-disciplinary team that would act as a non-biased, third party analyzing the data to help the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency with its complex datasets and models.
Research Project
Now that most National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) assessments and surveys are conducted using electronic modes, electronic data capture means that in addition to basic background information and final responses, data includes documentation of the process of responding. These process data comprise a time-stamped, click-by-click record of each student’s progress through the assessment or survey. To date these detailed process data have not been made available; however NCES is now preparing to establish a mechanism for release of process data for research purposes. The first panel was charged with making recommendations about how to minimize disclosure risks from such a data release. The second panel was asked to consider what data would be most useful to researchers, and how it should be preprocessed to allow a broad range of users able to use the data efficiently.