The Data Sharing for Demographic Research (DSDR) project of the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) supports population science and related fields by making it possible for researchers, policy makers and others to discover, access, and analyze relevant secondary data. Access to high-quality, generalizable data about populations facilitates scientific advancements at a pace that is not possible when researchers are limited to the data resources they produce themselves. Specifically, data that are findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable are critical to transparency and research reproducibility as well as making it feasible for scientists to combine data of different types and from different sources for a more nuanced understanding of the context of health outcomes and behaviors. DSDR provides the infrastructure for researchers to see the scope of available data; access both public- and restricted-use data while protecting human subjects; integrate emerging data types such as biomarkers, genomics, and administrative record data; and learn from others in the demographic community about the data and relevant analytic techniques. DSDR leverages the capabilities and capacities of ICPSR, the Institute for Social Research, and the University of Michigan to support research on maternal and child health, the lifecourse, health disparities, migration, relationship formation and dissolution, and more in the U.S. and internationally. To meet the aims set forth by NICHD, DSDR proposes five main objectives: 1) Sustain and build the collection of data, documentation, and other support files, 2) Improve discoverability and exploration of data, 3) Amplify access to restricted-use data, 4) Enable the combining of new types of data (e.g., biomarkers, neuroimages, and administrative records) with survey data, and 5) Offer training and perform outreach to engage the demographic community. ICPSR?s high-quality curation, creation of standardized information describing the data, dissemination of complete documentation including codebooks and user guides, and training opportunities ensures researchers can more easily find, evaluate, and use data collected by others to answer new and innovative research questions while upholding respondent privacy expectations.
DSDR promotes research in population dynamics and allied fields by providing access to data that can be used to study critical issues in public health, including child and maternal health, aging, and environmental influences on disease and overall well-being. By continuing to engage the demographic community with important data sources and colleagues from multiple related disciplines, DSDR encourages research that both contributes to fundamental knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and applies that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability.
