Accessing HSC’s Data for Research Purposes

The Health Sponsorship Council (HSC) is responsible for:

• data collected to monitor and evaluate HSC’s programmes and campaigns
• data collected in cooperation with others
• data entrusted into our care by other organisations.

Data are disseminated in many ways, including descriptive reports, fact sheets, data tables, journal articles, and datasets.

Where it is the custodian, HSC aims to maximise access to survey datasets while ensuring responsible use that protects individual information. This is regarded as an important way of increasing the benefit gained from the data collected. 

What information is available?

Click here for a list of datasets HSC holds. A dataset on this list may or may not be available to access, however please feel free to contact us about it.

Who can access datasets?

HSC datasets are potentially available for statistical purposes to researchers working within academic institutions, government agencies and the wider health sector, subject to certain conditions. 

Safety and security

Good statistical practice and HSC’s ethical obligations to survey participants require that information collected through HSC surveys, particularly personal information that could be used to identify individuals, is treated as confidential and stored securely. 

HSC must balance the benefits of data access with its obligations to hold data securely and protect the confidentiality of information supplied by individuals. Failing to adequately protect individual information potentially reduces public trust and confidence in HSC, and wider government, which in turn affects the ongoing quality of data collections.

Policy

HSC has developed a Data Access Policy for External Researchers, which can be accessed here. This policy applies to all researchers who request access to HSC microdata, and outlines HSC’s procedures for providing access to its survey microdata and the application and approval process.

How to gain access

If you are interested in accessing HSC’s survey data for your own research, please do the following:

1. Read the HSC Data Access Policy for External Researchers.
2. Familiarise yourself with any information about the data set you are interested in that is available on this website.
3. Download and complete an application form and return it to us both electronically and in hardcopy.

If you have any queries about this process or would like to check the availability of the data set you are interested in, please email research@hsc.org.nz.

Completed application forms can be sent to:

Research and Evaluation Unit
Health Sponsorship Council
PO Box 2142
Wellington 6140
New Zealand