Amending Your Proposal

We understand that research evolves and may change from the day you submit the proposal to the end of your analysis. However, it is important that your RDC Analyst be made aware of changes throughout the process as these changes may affect the disclosure risk. It is also important that the research proposal be updated to represent these changes.

Steps to Amending Your Proposal

• Indicate the Amendment Date 00/00/0000 on the first page.
• Explain the changes and why they are necessary throughout the relevant sections of the proposal.
• Highlight or “track” all changes.
• Write an email summarizing the changes.

Proposal Amendments are typically approved within two weeks. Amendments related to staffing changes and the addition of public variables typically take less time. Amendments related to new restricted data typically take more time.

Examples of Amendments

1. Different key staff:
   • If the primary investigator or programmer in direct contact with the data changes during the research project, the proposal must be updated and the person must submit the confidentiality paperwork.
2. Additional variables:
   • Adding Public Variables – requires the RDC Analyst’s approval and may or may not require the entire Review Committee’s approval.
   • Adding Restricted Variables and non-NCHS Variables– always requires the RDC Review Committee’s approval – this process typically takes 2 weeks.
   • If we have already created a dataset for you, adding variables and creating a new file may result in additional costs.
   • Adding variables unrelated to the original research will most likely require a new proposal and a complete review.
3. New methods or types of output:
   • If the analysis plan changes significantly from the method stated in the approved proposal, please discuss the changes with your RDC Analyst before conducting the analysis. Changes will need to be documented in the proposal and may or may not require Review Committee approval.