Microdata is the smallest fraction of data collected in a survey. Through numeric codes, it provides the individual responses to a questionnaire. By grouping microdata into certain units (such as geographic region or social class), new aggregated data is generated, enabling construction of data in relation to larger units.

The microdata bases can be accessed by specific software, such as R, SAS and SPSS, that allow users to manipulate the microdata to compose new aggregations and, consequently, new analyses.

To make them available, the microdata bases undergo an anonymization process to protect the identity of respondents.

The purpose of the microdata base anonymization process is to protect the identity of respondents. This process can be carried out through methods that restrict access or the data made available.

Methods for restricting access to data seek to establish who and/or under what conditions access to the data will be granted, limiting it, for example, to individuals authorized to handle it and permitting access to protected data through passwords/encryption or sharing of data under agreements/licenses of use.

Data restriction methods seek to limit data made available in order to protect it. This can be achieved through methods to suppress available data (for example, data that could identify individuals) or through inclusion of noise in the database (i.e., through inclusion of fictitious occurrences).

These techniques are used to protect the identity of respondents and, at the same time, enable access to the microdata bases of the surveys. In the microdata bases of the ICT surveys, methods to restrict access and/or data are used, combining them in the case of surveys with organizations.

Household surveys (ICT Households, ICT Kids Online Brazil)

The microdata bases of household surveys will be made available to the general public to download (Available in Portuguese) on the Cetic.br website, on the page for each survey, under the Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License.

The microdata bases will be published gradually, starting with the ICT Households 2015 survey.

Surveys with organizations (CT Electronic Government, ICT in Education, ICT Enterprises, ICT Nonprofit Organizations, ICT in Culture, and ICT in Health)

The microdata bases in reference to these establishments surveys can be made available through a Microdata Base Access and Use Agreement , signed between the requesting institution and NIC.br

The requesting institution shall fill out the form and provide information about the project, specifying the databases of interest (survey and year) and all the individuals in the institution who will be involved in handling and analyzing the data, as well as the objectives, justification and methodology of the study that will be conducted using the microdata base. The form shall be sent in PDF format by email to acordos.cetic@nic.br.

After review and acceptance of the required information, a Microdata Base Access and Use Agreement will be prepared and signed between NIC.br and a representative of the institution. To sign the agreement, a document must be sent demonstrating that the institution’s legal representative has the authority to sign this type of document.

The agreement is signed once between the parties and lasts until its expiration. Once signed, future microdata base requests can be sent to NIC.br/Cetic.br at any time, by e-mail (acordos.cetic@nic.br), by completing the aforementioned request form.

As part of the process to disseminate the results of the ICT surveys, NIC.br/Cetic.br makes the microdata bases of the surveys and their documentation available; they can be downloaded or obtained through an Access and Use Agreement.

Databases available for download

The microdata bases from the ICT Households Survey (Available in Portuguese) are available for download on the Cetic.br page. The documents offered are:

• Microdata base;
• Questionnaire administered to respondents;
• Methodological report that outlines the data collection methodology;
• Data dictionary to identify variables contained in the database.

All the microdata bases are anonymized to protect the identity of the respondents.The database dictionaries - variable labels and value labels associated with the answer options - are available exclusively in Portuguese.

Databases available for sharing via Access and Use Agreements

The following microdata bases are available through Access and Use Agreements: