The privacy survey was conducted from August 6 to 15, 2020, consisted of 22 questions, and had 36 responses. Poll invitations were sent to 154 participants in EDUCAUSE's Privacy Community Group. All but one respondent represented US institutions; the exception was a Canadian institution.

Twenty-four interviews for the research study were conducted from March 11 to September 11, 2020. Interviews lasted between 30 and 60 minutes and were conducted with privacy professionals across a variety of higher education institutions located within the United States, with the exception of one interview of a Canadian college. Three interviewees were interviewed more than once to learn more about the results of their contact-tracing plans.

I would first like to offer special thanks to Huron and its data privacy team for making this research possible and for providing helpful insight and assistance throughout the project. I would also like to thank all of the privacy professionals who responded to the privacy survey, with extra thanks to those who spent their very valuable time in interviews providing insights based on their hard work and experience. I would also like to thank the EDUCAUSE staff members—Jim Burnett, Carolyn Colman, Kate Roesch, Brian Kelly, Mark McCormack, and Jamie Reeves—who all played an important role in the creation and publication of this research project. Gregory Dobbin and the publication team provided helpful and timely copy edits and other editorial suggestions. Connie Ferger applied her very impressive content management and marketing skills to support the release of the research materials.