When planning your research topics and locating mental health, education or counseling data, it is important to remember that not all data is freely accessible for the years and level of analysis you are considering. Within these areas of study, access to specific types of data is restricted under FERPA and HIPAA regulations.
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) protects student data - a student is anyone who is or has been in attendance at an educational agency or institution that maintains educational records. These educational records contain information directly related to specific students and are maintained by the institution and they might exist in paper, electronic files, emails, film, etc.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) protects the privacy of patient health information.
Due to FERPA and HIPAA regulations, generally research data on education, counseling and mental health topics or about these populations will be available in aggregate format and not on the participant/recipient/student level. Gaining access to this microdata is possible, at times, but often is a very lengthy, potentially months long, process that will require documentation, specific research training protocols, having a faculty advisor, and working with William & Mary and the individual/agency holding the data.
The following guide was created to help researchers through the process of identifying a research topic that requires you to locate and use data. It has helpful advice for things to consider when identifying a topic as well as ways of thinking through where you can identify data.
