ASSURED Training useful vocabulary

Remote access in principle is just a tweak to the concept of a Safe Room, meaning that it is a physical room with controls and restrictions. However, with remote access, this room is placed at a partner organization instead of at the data provider's location. Thus, while keeping up strict security measures, remote access allows for more flexibility in data access. This access can be enabled via bilateral agreements and secure technical connections.

With a remote desktop, access happens via a secure, encrypted internet connection from a user's own office​. This approach makes data much more accessible for researchers compared to Safe Rooms. While the control cannot be as tight as in physical Safe Rooms, several measures can be taken, such as disabling any further Internet connection, copying files outside the environment or transferring them to another drive.

In a remote execution setting, users work from their own offices without directly accessing the data themselves. Instead, the users submit their data analysis code e.g. to the data provider, who then runs the analyses and returns the results to the user.

Also known as RDC, a Research Data Centre is an organisation or intitution that provides researchers with access to official or sensitive microdata. They act as the "gatekeeper," ensuring that data access complies with legal and ethical standards. One example in Germany is the RDC (Forschungsdatenzentrum - FDZ) of the Federal Employment Agency (BA) at the Institute for Employment Research (IAB). It provides high-quality labour market data to the scientific community.