Data Acquisition and Governance
Data Acquisition and Governance specialists provide data consultation, data licensing, data onboarding, and data access services for individual GSB faculty members and the larger GSB community.
Data Consultation
Licensing the right data is fundamental to any research program. The Data Acquisition and Governance team supports GSB researchers through the entire data acquisition process. When a dataset is acquired, we can support its administration in coordination with Data, Analytics, and Research Computing (DARC) and Library staff. Applying deep subject-matter expertise, our consultants work with researchers to identify untapped data sources from industry, government, and non-profit sectors. We engage with potential data providers to obtain price quotes, code books, and samples so that GSB researchers can review, analyze, and select new data sources that meet the requirements of their research programs.
Data Licensing
When a new data source is identified, our experienced legal staff write and review data use agreements which are designed to represent the interest of the GSB researchers. Negotiating the best licensing terms, including price, access, and terms of use, is critical to the ability of our researchers to make the most of new data sources. In careful consultation with our researcher clients, we craft agreements to make the most of GSB and Stanford research infrastructure, comply with Stanford policy, and meet the expectations of data providers and researchers alike.
Data Onboarding
Working closely with the DARC team, we ensure that licensed data is complete, safe, and in a format amenable to research. DARC’s data engineering team works to ensure that valuable data is handled securely and is made available on the right platform for Stanford GSB researchers.
Data Access
Much of the data coming to GSB researchers has limits on its use. Whether the limitations come from data providers, GSB research team goals, or Stanford policy, our data governance team works to provide appropriate data access. Thoughtful data governance is vital to ensuring compliance with contract terms, data provider expectations, and compliance with privacy protection regimes for research subjects. We have a mediated service through which knowledgeable staff serve as gatekeepers to individual data sets under the negotiated terms of the data use agreement.