In the Japan Gerontological Evaluation Study (JAGES) project, partially funded by Japanese and US government agencies, we collaborate with a number of municipalities all over Japan. Given that we use public funds, our collected data are available for open access to various researchers who have not been involved in the data collection. We also welcome proposals for joint research, particularly those that are public oriented and in concordance with the project’s overall goal.
How to file your application for data use and how to prepare your research proposal
We now only accept Google Forms-based online applications, which greatly facilitate the preparation and filing of research proposals.Once you file your proposal online, the person in charge at the JAGES Data Administration Office (hereinafter referred to as the “Data Administration Office”) will send it to other JAGES members using a specially designed mailing list for JAGES researchers (hereinafter referred to as the “Mailing List”).The procedures for filing your application for data use and for preparing a research proposal are described below.
How to file your application for data use
Please carefully read The Outline of the JAGES Project Data and the Guide to their Use (hereinafter referred to as the “Guide”) before starting your application process. You can download the updated Guide (available in full and compact versions) here.
If you have filed a research proposal with us before, skip to Step 3.If you are not a research member of the JAGES project, you may be required to have an active member of the JAGES project as a collaborator and/or a co-author in your proposed study. This provision depends on the topic of your research and/or the nature of the data set(s) you wish to use.
Contact the Data Administration Office at dataadmin.ml@jages.net. Let us know your interest in using our data set(s); you will receive the following materials by e-mail: (1) the Guide, (2) questionnaires, and (3) a URL for filing your research proposal.
Read carefully the Guide and questionnaires.
Prepare and file your research proposal online. Go to the designated site using the URL you have obtained from the Data Administration Office and fill out the application form to prepare your research proposal. Once you complete the form, simply click the “Submit” button to file your proposal online.
Exchange your research ideas with other members on the Mailing List, and present your proposal at a JAGES monthly workshop in Japan, if it is possible (otherwise, your JAGES member co-researcher can present the proposal). Once you file your proposal online, the person in charge at the Data Administration Office will check if it is complete. He/she then sends the proposal to other JAGES members using the Mailing List (j-ages@googlegroups.com). This Mailing List allows you and other members to exchange ideas and opinions related to your research. Moreover, you are asked to present your proposal at a JAGES monthly workshop in Japan, if you are available, and are expected to receive advice and comments directly from other members. Based on these advice and comments, you might need to correct or modify your proposal. As a general rule, you will need to present your proposal at a workshop before receiving the data set(s) you wish to use, if you intend to use any JAGES data set for the first time.
Receive notice of approval for data use from the Data Administration Office. About ten days after your proposal appears on the Mailing List, the person in charge at the Data Administration Office will notify you of the approval for data use, along with information of the next step. Note that the number of days you have to await to receive the approval notice will vary greatly, depending on the circumstances involved in the exchange of ideas/opinions on the Mailing List, necessity of revisions to your proposal, adjustment of your proposal with respect to others that have already been approved, and/or nature of the data set(s) you wish to use.
Submit the forms Written Pledge and Data Use Application to the Data Administration Office. You will receive two blank forms Written Pledge (Form 1) and Data Use Application (Form 2) from the Data Administration Office by e-mail. Fill out the two forms and then submit them to the Data Administration Office as e-mail attachments.
Receive the data set(s). The lending period of the data set(s) is usually one year. As all our data are anonymized but linkable with other data, the Data Administration Office hesitates to send them by e-mail for security concerns. Instead, we will make a CD-R/DVD-R copy that contains the data set(s) you request and send it to you by regular domestic or express international mail. Please make sure to let us know a street address at which you can securely receive the copy. When analyzing the data, you are not allowed to save it on a hard disk drive (HDD) for a computer that is connected to the internet. Instead, it must be saved in another CD-R/DVD-R or on an external HDD. Every time you finish your analysis with the data, do not forget to remove the HDD from your computer. When analyzing data, make sure you do NOT connect the computer to the internet.
Present your research results at a JAGES monthly workshop in Japan.
Register and submit your research products, such as journal articles and conference abstracts, to the Data Administration Office. You will need to present the results and findings of your research at a professional conference and/or produce a journal article no later than one year after the filing of your research proposal with us. You should also provide the Data Administration Office with the product(s), such as an excerpt of a conference abstract/journal article, a newspaper article, and a web article.
Prepare a press release manuscript. Once you provide the Data Administration Office with the information of your final products, you may be asked to prepare press releases. You will be contacted individually by a relevant secretariat office.
Submit the form Notification of Data Deletion and its Written Pledge to the Data Administration Office. At the time of completion of your research, you need to submit the form Notification of Data Deletion and its Written Pledge (Form 3) to the Data Administration Office.
