Acquisitions Policy

Data Sharing for Demographic Research (DSDR) archives data with external validity that can be generalized to populations. DSDR advances research in population dynamics and allied fields by providing access to data that can be used to study critical issues related to maternal and child health as well as other areas of public health including the human lifecycle. DSDR operates within the scope of an R24 grant from the NICHD Population Dynamics Branch, which gives priority to acquiring and providing data curation services for data originating from the following primary, secondary, and tertiary sources:

  1. Data resulting from support by the NICHD Population Dynamics Branch.
  2. Data sets that would provide research opportunities for scientists working within the scientific scope of the NICHD Population Dynamics Branch, which were supported by sources other than the NICHD Population Dynamics Branch.
  3. Data resulting from support by the NICHD Division of Extramural Research from sources other than the Population Dynamics Branch, with an emphasis on the data from behavioral and social science research.

Data curation services performed include: 

  • Cataloging (tagging) data for discovery via variable- and study-level searches.
  • Providing data and metadata documentation that meets international standards.
  • Reviewing data for disclosure risk and suggesting remediation, if necessary.
  • Identifying data sets that require restricted access, with attention to the risk of deductive disclosure, and implementing and enforcing appropriate data use agreements.
  • Creating data exploration tools (e.g., online analysis).
  • Processing, cleaning, and documenting any errors in the data.

If you have data supported by another source of funding, please contact us to discuss options for depositing your data. Questions? Email DSDR