85 – Administrative Records and Data Disclosure
Survey Respondents’ Perceptions on Data Confidentiality and Data Sharing
Jacob Bournazian
U.S. Energy Information Administration
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is a federal statistical agency that collects energy information exclusively for statistical use. Protecting the confidentiality of energy data that EIA collects is vital for EIA to establish and maintain its trust relationship with survey respondents. Private companies that provide information to the government have a direct interest in protecting their investments and resources that generate revenue. For each survey, EIA seeks to balance its statutory obligations to gather and share energy information with other government agencies and Congress while maintaining a trust relationship with its survey respondents. This paper presents a quantitative assessment on the perceptions of survey respondents regarding a federal statistical agency's ability to protect the confidentiality of information it collects. This study was conducted during 2015 after the largest federal data breach in U.S. history occurred at the Office of Personnel Management.