In an effort to streamline the data security review process, the Electronic Data Management page in PittPRO has been updated. Answers to these questions will determine whether the submission will need manual data security review or not. The added/modified questions are shown below:
- Will only anonymous data be collected (select NO if identifiers will be recorded at anytime during the conduct of the study)?
- During this study, will restricted data as defined by the University’s Data Risk Classification matrix (https://www.technology.pitt.edu/security/data-risk-classification-and-compliance) be processed, stored, or transmitted?
- During this study, will sensitive data (https://www.hrpo.pitt.edu/electronic-data-security) be collected where disclosure of identifying information could have adverse consequences for subjects or damage their financial standing, employability, insurability, educational advancement, reputation or place them at risk for criminal or civil liability?
The web links provided by Pitt IT give comprehensive information about the definitions and management of restricted and sensitive data and will be of great assistance to study teams in answering the questions correctly.
Remember that "anonymous" means that no one can identify the subject at any time. This means that recorded data are not linked to the identity of the individual subjects in any way. If there are linkage codes, data is not anonymous and question #1 must be answered "no".
The Electronic Data Management Tips guidance can be helpful in completing the PittPRO sections. Questions specific to research data security can be submitted to the Pitt IT Help Desk.
If you have an action in progress, these questions will need to be answered prior to submission. If you receive errors upon hitting the submit button, this may be the reason why. Click the "hide/show errors" link to be directed to the questions that need answering.
Technical questions can be submitted to orp_support@pitt.edu and protocol related questions can be submitted to askirb@pitt.edu
