Eligibility Guidelines

The Michigan Education Data Center can release data to an institution of higher education or a non-profit research institution located within the United States. Researchers requesting data must have their primary affiliation with an eligible institution, or be a currently enrolled student in a doctoral program at an eligible institution. 

Minimum Criteria

Research proposals must meet the following criteria in order to be considered for approval:

• The research project has been granted IRB approval prior to application.
• Assuming the request involves individual student data, the proposal must meet the criteria outlined under FERPA
  exceptions justifying the use of individual student data without prior consent.  
• The requested data elements are not publicly available.
• The application requests data elements that are available to MERI and MEDC.
• The application clearly indicates how the requested data will be used to address the research questions.

Application Instructions

The MERI research application is an online form. You can save drafts of your applications and return to it at a later date.

Prior to starting your application:

• Review FERPA exceptions and complete FERPA training.  
• Ask all members of your research team who will be included as part of this application to complete FERPA training.  
• Obtain signed confidentiality and security forms for
  all research team members included in the application.  
• Review application resources provided in the MERI Research Application
  Guide.