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Data access

Raw digital trace data and survey data are shared with researchers at Canadian universities, for academic research. Every request is reviewed, every account is named, and the Data Usage Rules come with it.

Data Access Request Form

Raw digital trace data is shared only with researchers at Canadian universities for designed and approved academic research.

Eligibility

The lead requester must:

Be a professor at a Canadian university, listed on the university’s website
Reside in Canada and oversee the research project
Be answerable for their team’s access, and maintain an up-to-date list of their team

Team members must also reside in Canada and be affiliated with a Canadian university, and the request must support a named academic project.

Once you apply:

We review the request against the criteria above.
If it is approved, you agree to the usage rules and get personal credentials.
Access ends when the project does, and downloaded raw data is deleted.

nameemail

academic affiliation · Canadian university.what you are working on

data access request

role / titleproject name

collaborators · Everyone who will touch the data. Please provide names and emails, one per line.project timeline · Start and end datesproject description · Research question, methods, and what scientific contribution is expected.data requested and planned use · Specific data needs and your approaches to analysis.

data requested · Tick everything the project needs — you can ask for both.

Digital trace · Public posts from the platforms MEO collects, normalized into one panel.Survey · The national tracking survey — attitudes, media habits, perceptions.

additional information · Any additional context (e.g. links to documents, prior work, an ethics approval, etc.)

I have read the

Data Usage Rules

By accessing or using MEO data with the credentials issued to you, you agree to comply with the following Data Usage Rules:

1
Only the requester and collaborators listed in the Data Access Request Form may access MEO data. If a new collaborator is added, the requester must obtain approval from MEO before that person is granted access.
2
Each data user must access the data using the login credentials assigned to them. Credentials must not be shared with others.
3
Raw data must not be published or shared with anyone other than the requester and collaborators listed in the Data Access Request Form.
4
Personally Identifiable Information (PII) must not be disclosed or published in any form. Research results shared externally must be sufficiently aggregated to prevent individuals from being identified.
- PII includes, but is not limited to, names, addresses, phone numbers, government-issued identifiers, or combinations of information that could be used to identify an individual, such as gender, city, and employer.
- Even when results are aggregated, care must be taken to ensure that individuals cannot be re-identified through triangulation.
5
The data may only be used for the research described in the Data Access Request Form. Any other use, including searching for an individual’s information for personal or unrelated purposes, is strictly prohibited. MEO reserves the right to audit API queries and terminate access in cases of inappropriate use.
6
Any raw data downloaded during the research process must be deleted at the end of the research period specified in the Data Access Request Form. Aggregated datasets may be retained provided they do not contain information that could identify an individual, either directly or indirectly through triangulation.
7
Publications and other research outputs using the requested data should cite MEO/CMTD as the data source.

and agree to comply with them. (Open the rules to enable this.)

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Rather just email us? meo@mcgill.ca