What are the ethical concerns when dealing with secondary data?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

When analyzing historical documents or quantitative data collected by others, the potential for harm to human subjects that can be a concern when collecting primary data is greatly reduced. It is still, however, important to be honest and responsible in working out arrangements for data access and protection. Researchers who conclude that they are being denied access to public records of the federal government may be able to obtain the data by filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The FOIA stipulates that all persons have a right to access all federal agency records unless the records are specifically exempted (Riedel, 2000). Researchers who review historical or government documents must also try to avoid embarrassing or otherwise harming named individuals or their descendants by disclosing sensitive information.
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA): This federal law stipulates that all persons have a right to access all federal agency records unless the records are specifically exempted.
Subject confidentiality is a key concern when original records are analyzed. Whenever possible, all information that could identify individuals should be removed from the records to be analyzed so that no link is possible to the identities of living subjects or the living descendants of subjects (Huston & Naylor, 1996). When you use data that have already been archived, you need to find out what procedures were used to preserve subject confidentiality. The work required to ensure subject confidentiality probably will have been done for you by the data archivist. For example, the ICPSR examines carefully all data deposited in the archive for the possibility of disclosure risk. All data that might be used to identify respondents is altered to ensure confidentiality, including removal of information such as birth dates or service dates, specific incomes, or place of residence that could be used to identify subjects indirectly (see http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/content/datamanagement/confidentiality/). If all information that could be used in any way to identify respondents cannot be removed from a dataset without diminishing its quality (such as by preventing links to other essential data records), ICPSR restricts access to the data and requires that investigators agree to conditions of use that preserve subject confidentiality.
It is not up to you to decide whether there are any issues of concern regarding human subjects when you acquire a dataset for secondary analysis from a responsible source. The institutional review board (IRB) for the protection of human subjects at your college, university, or other institution has the responsibility to decide whether it needs to review and approve proposals for secondary data analysis. The federal regulations are not entirely clear on this point, so the acceptable procedures will vary among institutions based on what their IRBs have decided.
Ethical concerns are multiplied when surveys are conducted or other data are collected in other countries. If the outside researcher lacks much knowledge of local norms, values, and routine activities, the potential for inadvertently harming subjects is substantial. For this reason, cross-cultural researchers should spend time learning about each of the countries in which they plan to collect primary data and establish collaborations with researchers in those countries (Hantrais & Mangen, 1996). Local advisory groups may also be formed in each country so that a broader range of opinion is solicited when key decisions must be made. Such collaboration can also be invaluable when designing instruments, collecting data, and interpreting results.