Institutional Work

ResearchDataGov

Designing a shared access pathway for restricted federal research data, where one researcher flow had to carry many agency rules.

Product Designer · ICPSR

Client

Federal Government Data Agencies

Role

UX Designer

Timeline

8 months

Track

Institutional Work

Signature Artifact

Agency access matrix

The page opens with the structure of the service problem: one researcher journey had to carry dataset rules, agency rules, review logic, and provisioning states.

Restricted data access model

One path, many rule systems

Researcher step
Agency rule
Review checkpoint
System state
Select datasetApplicant chooses data with restricted access.
Dataset termsRules appear only when relevant.
EligibilityRequired documents and identity checks.
DraftRequirements are still editable.
Submit applicationResearch purpose and team details lock.
Agency pathDifferent agencies route differently.
Reviewer queueShared data supports decisions.
Under reviewApplicant sees progress, not internal noise.

The Breakpoint

Researchers needed one path
through many agency rules.

ResearchDataGov supports access to restricted federal research data. The difficult part was not only helping researchers find datasets. It was designing a service that could carry different agency requirements, dataset rules, required documents, review periods, and provisioning paths without making the application feel like a maze.

Government Service Design Federal UX Multi-Stakeholder

My Role

ResearchDataGov

Lead product design for the restricted data access experience, including application requirements, dataset selection, applicant workflows, reviewer workflows, and design specifications for engineering handoff.

Context

ResearchDataGov brought several services into one access pathway: metadata ingest, public data discovery, dataset selection, restricted access applications, reviewer determination, notifications, reporting, and production support. Each service touched a different group: data owners, applicants, reviewers, administrators, and support teams.

Approach

I treated the product as a shared service architecture rather than a set of isolated screens. The core design work was mapping how a researcher moves from discovery to selection to application, while keeping agency-specific requirements visible only when they matter. That meant designing for progressive disclosure, versioned required documents, dataset-based review rules, and clear status changes across applicant and reviewer views.

Access handoff matrix connecting the researcher journey, rule checkpoints, and reviewer/admin workflow.

A shared access path connecting researcher actions, dataset- and agency-specific rule checkpoints, and reviewer handoffs.

Design Focus

One Flow

Unified discovery, dataset selection, application, review, and provisioning into one end-to-end access path.

Many Rules

Supported agency- and dataset-specific requirements without exposing every rule at once.

Two Sides

Connected applicant and reviewer experiences around the same application data and status logic.

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