Nwrel Confidentiality Pledge

APPENDIX L

NWREL CONFIDENTIALITY PLEDGE

NWREL Experimental Study of Project CRISS

The Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory (NWREL) is committed to the principle that the confidentiality of individual data obtained through NWREL research projects must be protected. Project directors and other senior research staff shall read and agree to these Procedures for Maintaining Confidentiality.

Procedures for Maintaining Confidentiality

1. Researchers and field workers shall keep completely confidential the names of respondents, all information or opinions collected in the course of data collection, and any information about respondents learned incidentally during field work.

2. Data containing personal identifiers shall be kept in a locked container or a locked room when not being used. Reasonable caution shall be exercised in limiting access to information from or about identifiable individuals to only those persons who are working on the specific project, and who have been instructed in the applicable confidentiality requirements for that project.

3. Ordinarily, subject numbers or case numbers shall be assigned to respondents prior to creating an electronic record. Identifiers such as name, address, or personal information shall not, ordinarily, be a part of the machine record. When identifiers need to be part of the machine data record, the project director shall consult with the NWREL manager of data processing for determining adequate confidentiality measures.

4. Each project director shall be responsible for ensuring that all research personnel, support staff, and contractors involved in handling data on a project are instructed in these procedures.

5. When required to return data to our clients, the project director must provide proper safeguards to ensure confidentiality up to the time of delivery.

6. At the end of the period of data use, the project director shall arrange for proper storage or disposition of data including any particular contractual requirements for storage or disposition.

7. When required by a federal contract or grant, project directors shall ensure that data collection practices adhere to the provisions of the U.S. Privacy Act, Section 552 of title 5, with regard to the collection, maintenance, and disclosure of information from or about identifiable individuals

Pledge

I hereby certify that I have read and agree to the above procedures for maintaining confidentiality of data collected by NWREL. In addition, I will comply with any additional confidentiality procedures established by NWREL for a particular contract.

Signature Print name Date

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