When do I need a letter of cooperation to access my population and what does it have to look like?

A letter of cooperation is simply a way to acknowledge that you are using resources that belong to another party for your purposes.  Anytime you are accessing employee or student time, the resources of a business or institution or data that belongs to another entity, you will need a statement/letter of cooperation.  Anytime you are accessing subjects, data or resources from another institution you will need a letter of cooperation.

If you are accessing data from a GS resource (e.g., you want to collect data in a classroom), the letter can be as simple as an email acknowledgement or handwritten permission from an individual with adequate authority to provide access (e.g., the faculty member who teaches the class).

If subjects are students or employees of another institution, a more formal method of documentation would be appropriate. This may be a letter or email from the institutional official’s professional address with the institutional officer and title identified in the email body.

• All letters of cooperation must clearly identify the investigator and project by title.
•  If using education data obtained from school records you must include documentation of parental permission for the release of such data under the Family Educational Privacy Act (FERPA). This may be a copy of the release form, informed consent, or an assurance from the institutional official that such permission has been obtained prior to data release.
• If you are using medical/patient data, you will need to include a HIPAA data security release statement.  See the sample LOC on the forms page for an example.

Last updated: 2/21/2023