Apply for a Data Research Project
Step 1: Letter of Intent
Applying for a data research project begins with the researcher submitting a
letter of intent(Word) describing the proposed research study.
PDE Data Governance Research Committee reviews the proposed research study and makes a recommendation for the research project application process to proceed or not;
Recommended research projects must have a completed research application submitted for PDE’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) review.
Step 2: Complete the official IRB application
For Submission of Applications. the Pennsylvania Department of Education Institutional Review Board (PDE IRB) has a standard deadline date of the 2nd Thursday of every month. A fully completed application must be submitted on or before the 2nd Thursday of the month to be reviewed at that month's IRB meeting. Full board IRB meetings are scheduled to meet on the 3rd Thursday of the month. If the application materials are not received by the submission deadline date, they will be scheduled for review at the IRB meeting that occurs in the following month. Investigators are advised to plan accordingly and submit a fully completed application and all necessary attachments early enough to meet the required deadline.
The following documents must be submitted, along with the
IRB research application (where applicable):
Step 3: Enter the Data Access Agreement
PDE will contact the researcher to enter into the appropriate
data access agreement once the IRB has approved the research application.
Step 4:
Upon both parties completing and signing the Data Access agreement, PDE will work to pull together the identified research data and provide it to the researcher.