Integrity and sustainability in the digital age:Storing, sharing, and documenting digital data by sociologists in the Netherlands

The digital revolution brought lasting benefits for scientific research, but it also brought new challenges. Perhaps one of the biggest current challenges is how digital data can be handled in an integer and sustainable way. In this small-scale study we conducted in-depth interviews with fourteen sociologists – six research directors and eight PhD students – of six different Dutch universities and asked them how they store, share, and document their digital data. Based on these fourteen interviews we conclude that there have been several positive changes in past years, which have been accelera... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Oldenburg, Beau
Dokumenttyp: conferenceObject
Erscheinungsdatum: 2016
Schlagwörter: Data Management / Integrity
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-29190407
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://hdl.handle.net/11370/1e64d33d-f108-4a96-9188-73c7205959e6

The digital revolution brought lasting benefits for scientific research, but it also brought new challenges. Perhaps one of the biggest current challenges is how digital data can be handled in an integer and sustainable way. In this small-scale study we conducted in-depth interviews with fourteen sociologists – six research directors and eight PhD students – of six different Dutch universities and asked them how they store, share, and document their digital data. Based on these fourteen interviews we conclude that there have been several positive changes in past years, which have been accelerated by the Stapel case. One positive development is that in nearly all sociology departments researchers are requested to make so-called publication packages: digital packages that contain all data, syntaxes, and other important information needed to replicate results that are published in a scientific journal or book (chapter). However, there is still quite some room for improvement. Most respondents store their data on vulnerable and unreliable media (e.g., Dropbox and USB sticks). Moreover, it was unclear how publication packages are checked and what the consequences are when these packages are not in order. With respect to sharing data we found that most researchers are reluctant to share their data with other researchers, even though they are aware that it is a good scientific habit. Finally, only a few of the researchers were familiar with the term Data Management Plan. Respondents did discuss Data Management related topics with their colleagues but did not write them down. Practical solutions for these problems are discussed. In addition, we discuss changes that recently have been implemented in the sociology department of the University of Groningen based on this report.