Preparing a Successful Data Request

The steps below are best practices for making data requests. Data owners are frequently overburdened with daily operations. You can make it as easy as possible for them to fulfill your request by planning carefully and addressing all of the relevant questions up front.

Design questions that can be answered with data.

Before you can make an effective data request, you need to know exactly what you are looking for and why. Below are some questions to answer before moving forward.

“What is the overarching goal or objective that I want to accomplish?”

Knowing what you want before turning to data is a prerequisite to effective data use.

“What do I want to find out or measure?”

Thinking about what questions you want to answer will help you identify the most relevant metrics. Some examples of research questions for your data could include:

• To what extent is the service provided by [Program X] reaching constituents?
• Do budget allocations meet needs? Are budget allocations used by the populations in need?
• How has enrollment in [Program X] changed over the last five years?
• How did [Event X] impact residents of Connecticut?

“How much data do I actually need?”

In the age of “big data” it may be tempting to collect as much information as possible and sort through it later. But this approach is counterproductive. Looking at too many metrics may overwhelm the analysis or distract you from your research question. And requesting more data than you need from a state agency may make responding to your request more time consuming. Some methods of reducing the amount of data you have to sift through include:

• Consider the time frame. Looking at smaller windows of time can provide clues about how better to dissect the bigger picture without having to sort through as much information.
• Identify the fields that you need for your analysis. By having a clear understanding of what you want to measure, you can limit the number of fields in your data request.
• Build some redundancy into the data you request. Once you’ve identified the information you need, consider how you will work around a record that’s missing data in a field. Are there other fields you could use as a proxy? Add these fields to your request.
• Use derived statistics whenever possible. If you know what question you’d like to answer, you should be able to define specific stats that provide an answer. Using a limited selection of fields, you can compute averages, differences, percentages, and other derived statistics that construct these measurements out of less data while still answering your question.

Identify the data.

Before you can request data, you will need to identify the agency and program that’s likely to have the data you are looking for. This data may be found in Connecticut’s High Value Data Inventory, which lists the high value data maintained by each executive branch agency. The high value data inventory should provide the name of the data owner who you can contact about the data you are interested in.

If you can’t find the data you are looking for in the high value data inventory, you can reach out to the Agency Data Officer at the agency that maintains the data you need. Agency data officers are the point people for data requests at each executive branch agency and can help direct your request.

Outside of the governance structure of P20 WIN, each agency has its own process for managing data requests. The agency data officer should be able to provide more information about how data requests are handled at their agency and what next steps you should follow for requesting the data.

To request data through P20 WIN, review the Data Dictionary to identify the data that you will need for your analysis.

Explain your objective and the details of your plan clearly.

Data owners are accountable for the proper use and security of their data. In order to evaluate the risks and benefits of sharing data, they will need an explanation of how you plan to protect and use it. The data owner’s agency will have its privacy and security processes, and your practices will need to comply with them. When requesting data, you should be prepared to explain:

• What your objective is (i.e. the question you would like to answer)
• How a partnership with the partner agency can you help answer that question, and how that question is a shared inquiry for both agencies
• What data you need to study your objective (including as much specific discussion of the fields of interest as possible)
• How you will account for potential sources of implicit bias in the data you are requesting. See Review data for implicit biases for more information.
• Who will have access to the data if you receive it
• How you will ensure that the data is handled safely, ethically, and securely
• The timeline with which you hope to answer the question and analyze the data
• How communication between your agency and your partner agency will take place (should there be weekly check-ins about the data usage? Reports filed about data activity? etc.)

Specify the parameters of the request.

The data owner needs to understand exactly how to fulfill the request. Some useful parameters or filters to consider include:

• The date range
• Specific fields or columns you are requesting
• Specific datasets or databases
• Filters such as age, people tied to a specific program, or geography

Keep the scope and timeframe realistic.

Ensure that the data owner can fulfill the data request in a reasonable timeframe and with their available resources. If a data request is too taxing on the data owner, they may reject the request until the parameters change or the requester offers additional resources. Consider the time required for crafting and signing a data sharing agreement.

Requesting data through P20 WIN

P20 WIN is the state longitudinal data system and is used to answer policy questions, fulfill federal and state reporting requirements, support program review and evaluation, and support research and analysis on a variety of topics. The P20 WIN system has its own data request process for requesting data from two or more participating agencies.

Participating Agencies that are part of P20 WIN include:

• State Department of Education (SDE)
• Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU)
• University of Connecticut (UConn)
• Department of Labor (DOL)
• Connecticut Conference of Independent Colleges (CCIC)
• Office of Early Childhood (OEC)
• Office of Policy and Management (OPM)
• Office of Higher Education (OHE)
• Department of Social Services (DSS)
• Department of Children and Families (DCF)
• Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness (CCEH)

Requests for data through P20 WIN should include data from two or more participating agencies and should align with either a participating agency’s individual issue priorities or the P20 WIN Learning Agenda.

To submit a data request through P20 WIN, the requestor should follow the steps summarized below.

1. Submit a written proposal that outlines the request and data needed to the P20 WIN staff at OPM.
2. Once the P20 WIN Outreach and Engagement Coordinator reviews the data request proposal and determines viability, the data requestor will receive a Data Sharing Request Form to complete, which will then be reviewed by P20 WIN staff for completeness and alignment with the P20 WIN Learning Agenda.

Once a data request has been submitted:

1. Data Governing Board members whose agency’s data are included in the data request review and determine if the requested data may be shared. The request is then approved, rejected, or recommended to be modified.
2. The Outreach and Engagement Coordinator communicates the decision from the Data Governing board to the data requestor.
3. If the request is approved, the Outreach and Engagement Coordinator drafts the data sharing agreement, circulates for signatures, and collects confidentiality and related documents according to the data request.
4. P20 WIN staff and data stewards coordinate the production and secure transfer of data files for the data matching process to the data requestor.
5. The data requestor conducts their analysis using the data files provided.

More information about the P20 WIN data request process can be found on the P20 WIN website and, with additional detail, in the P20 WIN Data Governance Manual.