Project Name:

Engaging Policy Stakeholders to Inform a Future National Secure Data Service

Contractor: Clarivate Analytics, LLC

Lessons Learned

  • Policy stakeholders in the federal space have a wide range of data and evidence building needs. They also have various capacity and skill levels to fulfill those needs.
  • The planned infrastructure, services and tools to be offered through a future National Secure Data Service (NSDS), including the development of a concierge service and other resources, will be instrumental in informing this project’s goal to develop a framework for policy stakeholders to successfully acquire, access and use data and services for evidence building within an NSDS. This policy stakeholder framework solution will also help to inform the suite of NSDS services and tools that are currently being developed.
  • Integration of efforts with other project developers and the NSDS decision makers are needed to ensure seamless service development of solutions and ongoing coordination.
  • An in-depth literature review conducted this quarter highlighted key considerations for policy groups in the federal government related to data and policy formation needs. Future engagement with these stakeholders will delve into the specific requirements to shape the final framework solution.

The lessons learned pertain to both process and output of the National Secure Data Service, which is a complex socio-technical system. The focus of our project is on a framework for a Concierge Service to support evidence-based policy making by federal policymakers, which is a narrow aspect of the NSDS system.

  1. The primary lesson we have learned is the importance of understanding the extent to which the national data ecosystem meets the evidentiary requirements of the Evidence Act of 2018. Policymakers need and use multiple types of data and sources of data that are not all available from the national data ecosystem, yet.
  2. The use of a national data ecosystem for policy purposes requires a number of communities of practice that play specific roles, which need to be understood and incorporated in the design of the Concierge Service(s).
  3. There are multiple literatures that have a bearing on this task, so it is important to begin with a broad brush to paint the picture of the knowledgebase and to then focus on and highlight its conceptual and practical aspects that have a direct bearing on the (1) social, (2) technical, and (3) systemic components of the national data ecosystem, its users, and its use.
  4. To design a framework for the Concierge Service to meet the needs of the federal policymakers, we need to understand the relationship between the context and complexity of the policy issue and the experience and skills the policy analysts, who will use and make sense of the evidence.

 

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Disclaimer: America’s DataHub Consortium (ADC), a public-private partnership, implements research opportunities that support the strategic objectives of the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) within the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). These results document research funded through ADC and is being shared to inform interested parties of ongoing activities and to encourage further discussion. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed above do not necessarily reflect the views of NCSES or NSF. Please send questions to ncsesweb@nsf.gov.