Data access
Your project on The Secure Research Platform will gain access to the register data that is required for your project. The data access can be set up in two ways. The way the data is set up affects how the data is structured when you access it, and it also affects your option to receive automatically updated data. When processing your application, Research Services will advise you on the selection of data access.
Regardless of which data access you opt for, all data will be placed in your project folder by Research Services, with the delimitations agreed upon during the processing of the application. You can now access the data with the analysis software you have opted to work with (SAS, Stata, R).
It is also possible to combine the two solutions for the same project, allowing for access to some registers to be provided as views while others are provided as fixed data sets.
Updated data
The Secure Research Platform is a database that contains a duplicate of the national health registers. Research Services continuously transfers a new copy of the registers to ensure that The Secure Research Platform is as updated as possible.
Views
A view is a look into a section of data in the database. The benefit of views is that you always have access to the latest update of the register – without having to search for new updated data.
A view can be delimited to only show data that is needed for your project. Complicated delimitations, however, can be very time-consuming each time you want to open or analyse data in the view. If your project requires complicated delimitations, Research Services will recommend fixed data sets instead.
In views, data will be stored in the same way as in the database. For instance, The National Patient Register, the Birth Register, and the Danish National Health Service Register are organised in annual tables, often requiring you to have to rearrange the data before you can perform your analyses. The National Patient Register is annualised and stored in several registers. Accessing that register as a view requires you to collect and process data before you can carry out your analyses. This organisation requires knowledge of The National Patient Register as well as good programming skills. Alternatively, you can ask for fixed data sets and have Research Services collect data for you.
Fixed data sets
Data access on The Secure Research Platform is generally created as views. In some cases, however, it may be necessary to provide access to fixed data sets instead. Fixed data sets are generated tables of data that are not updated automatically. You must therefore contact Research Services if you wish to update your project, and you will be charged for time spent processing your request.
If a research project requires special delimitations of data that cannot be handled in views, Research Services recommend fixed data sets. Using these, makes it possible to organise data in a more accessible way. Fixed data sets can be beneficial for users who are not experienced in data processing.
Particularly large registers, such as The Register of Pharmaceutical Sales, the Danish National Health Service Register, and DRG grouped National Patient Register Data are not recommended as fixed data sets due to their size.