Facebook - COVID-19 Symptom Survey – Request for Data Access

Sponsor:

Facebook

Program:

COVID-19 Symptom Survey – Request for Data Access

Type:

Data Access (no funding provided by Facebook)

Program Deadline:

Ongoing

Program description:

The COVID-19 symptom surveys are designed to help researchers better monitor and forecast the spread of COVID-19. In partnership with University of Maryland and Carnegie Mellon University, Facebook users are invited to take surveys conducted by these two partner universities to self-report COVID-19-related symptoms. The surveys may be used to generate new insights on how to respond to the crisis, including heat maps of self-reported symptoms. This information may help health systems plan where resources are needed and potentially when, where, and how to reopen parts of society. 

University of Maryland’s Joint Program in Survey Methodology is the survey host for the non-US Survey and Carnegie Mellon University’s Delphi Research Group is the survey host for the US survey. Both universities collaborated with the broader public health community in the design of the surveys. Facebook does not host the surveys nor collect survey participant responses, and only has access to public, aggregated survey data provided by the universities. To ensure that the survey is representative of  the characteristics of the population, Facebook calculates and shares a survey weight to help researchers correct for sampling bias. 

Publicly Available Aggregated Data

• Aggregated US survey data are made available to the public by Carnegie Mellon University’s Delphi Research Group.
• Aggregated non-US survey data are made available to the public by University of Maryland

Request Access to Non-Aggregated Data for Research Purposes

Academic and nonprofit researchers may request access to non-public, non-aggregated survey data for their research. This includes daily files with the survey variables and weights. Once a request is approved by Facebook and UMD or CMU (“Partner Universities”), the researcher’s institution must have signed Data Use Agreements (DUAs) in place before data access will be provided. Please see more information below about what information to include in requests, eligibility and data use agreements.

For more information, please visit the Program website.

Application Details:

Data access requests should include:

• Project summary – Submit a 1-page description of the project and analysis plan, including why non-aggregated data are required and any complementary work; and
• Administrative information – Name, email and title of the official authorized to sign contracts on behalf of your institution (please contact the Office of Research contact below to obtain this information).

Applicants may request access to non-public, non-aggregated survey data for their research. This includes daily files with the survey variables and weights.

Once a request is approved by Facebook and UMD or CMU, the researcher’s institution must have signed Data Use Agreements (DUAs) in place before data access will be provided.

Program submission instructions:

1. Notify the Office of Research of intention to apply.
2. Review in full the Request for Data Access guidelines.
3. Submit final copy of all application documents to the Office of Research.
4. Submit the final proposal using the proposal form provided by Facebook.

Office of Research contact:

Julia De Paola Almeida Carvalho
Grants and Contracts Manager, Research Partnerships
j4carvalho@uwaterloo.ca

Program contact:

covid19symptomsurvey@fb.com