Government Survey Data

When government conducts a survey and collects, creates, and maintains data in connection with the survey, those data are government data and subject to the requirements of the Data Practices Act. Likewise, when government contracts with a private entity to conduct a survey or perform other duties related to a survey, such as compilation of information, the Data Practices Act applies. In this situation, data that the private entity collects, creates, and maintains related to the contracted survey work are subject to the requirements of the Data Practices Act (Minnesota Statutes, section 13.05, subdivision 11).

Are responses to surveys public or not public data?
How survey response data are classified will depend on who is conducting the survey, who is responding to the survey, and the content of the survey responses. Government data is presumptively public unless the data are classified differently by state or federal law. (See also Advisory Opinion 14-012.) Some specific classifications and access provisions that may apply to survey response data include:
- Private data about government employees: Minnesota Statutes, section 13.43, subdivision 4, classifies all data about government employees not listed in subdivision 2 as private data. Therefore, a government entity will need to determine which survey response data about employees are public and which are private.
- Access to employee suggestion data: Minnesota Statutes, section 13.43, subdivision 7a, applies to situations in which an entity has requested suggestions from all employees on ways to cut costs, make government more efficient, or improve the operation of government. An employee who is identified in a suggestion has access to all data in the suggestion except the identity of the other employee making the suggestion.
- Private/nonpublic data in surveys conducted by cities and housing and redevelopment authorities: Minnesota Statutes, section 13.59, subdivision 1, classifies the names and addresses of individuals and the legal descriptions of property owned by individuals as private data. Subdivision 2 classifies as nonpublic: the names, addresses, legal descriptions of business properties, and the commercial use of the property to the extent disclosure of the use would identify a particular business.
- Private data collected by the Management Analysis & Development Division (MAD) of Minnesota Management & Budget (MMB): Minnesota Statutes, section 13.64, subdivision 1(c), classifies as private: identifying data on individuals who supply needed information for a report and who would not have provided the information without an assurance from MAD that their data would be protected.
- Private/nonpublic data in Minnesota Department of Transportation surveys: Minnesota Statutes, section 13.72, subdivision 14(a) classifies names, home addresses except for zip codes, home email addresses, and home telephone numbers as private data. Subdivision 14(b) classifies business names, business addresses except for zip codes, business email addresses, and business telephone numbers as nonpublic data.
If a Minnesota government entity knows that some of the survey response data will be private, does it need to give a Tennessen warning notice when conducting the survey?
Are there limitations on the types of data that a Minnesota government entity can collect in a survey?

Yes. A government entity can collect data on individuals only if necessary to administer or manage a program that is authorized by state law or local government, or that is mandated by the federal government (See Minnesota Statutes, section 13.05, subdivision 3.). Entities should consider this limitation when designing surveys so that they are not collecting unnecessary data.
Can a government entity decide that a survey will be anonymous or confidential?

Entities should avoid making general promises of anonymity or confidentiality to survey respondents. The terms anonymous and anonymity have no specific meaning under Chapter 13, so promises of anonymity for survey respondents are not appropriate. The term "confidential" is used in Chapter 13 to refer to a specific kind of not public data. Therefore, unless Minnesota law provides that the survey data are confidential, promises of confidentiality are not appropriate (for more information about confidential data, see Minnesota Statutes, section 13.02, subdivision 3.).

As discussed above, how government data is classified, and who gets access to that data, is determined by Minnesota law. Depending on the purpose of the survey, a government entity may be able to design the survey in a way that limits what data on individuals are collected.