Federal Statistical Research Data Centers: Home

Federal Statistical Research Data Centers (FSRDC) operated by the U.S. Census Bureau are partnerships between federal statistical agencies and leading research institutions. FSRDCs provide secure environments supporting qualified researchers using restricted-access data while protecting respondent confidentiality.

Researchers interested in analyzing federal agency microdata that are not publicly available may benefit from using a Federal Statistical Research Data Center (FSRDC). See the introductory video on the FSRDC website.

Federal data sets can support research in economics, sociology, public health, and related fields. Working with these sets provide unique research opportunities.

Oklahoma State University is a member of the Dallas-Fort Worth FSRDC.

The standard application process (SAP) Portal, is a web-based data catalog and common application that serves as a “front door” to apply for confidential data from any of the 16 principal federal statistical agencies and units for evidence building purposes for approved researchers.

All of the information needed for drafting and submitting proposals can be found on the Standard Application Portal website. Researchers should contact Sam Bondurant, Dallas-Fort Worth FSRDC, samuel.r.bondurant@census.gov, about their research interests and goals. They can schedule a time to review how to go about drafting a successful proposal. 

To perform statistical research in an FSRDC using non-public microdata, researchers must be both associated with an approved project and obtain Special Sworn Status (SSS). See the Restricted-Use Data Application Process.

To learn more about the SAP, please visit the Standard Application Process Overview webpage and view the SAP Explainer Video. Information about applying for access to restricted-use microdata in the FSRDCs using the SAP portal is available on the standard application process website.

There are a number of datasets that are approved to be accessed virtually. Researchers can begin their projects locally in the Dallas RDC and will have at least two visits with Sam Bondurant. Researchers are then eligible to apply for remote access in which they will be able to work with the remainder of their project from their home offices.

In order for a project to be approved for virtual access, all datasets being requested for the project need to be approved for virtual access-use. The general rule of thumb is that Census demographic datasets are approved for virtual access, but economic data (establishments/firms) are not approved for virtual access. If there are any specific datasets researchers are interested in, Sam Bondurant can check if it is available for virtual access.