Data Sharing Resources

Marc Couture

Updated March 1, 2024

One finds on the Web numerous websites and documents about data sharing. You will find below some of them, who have been judged suitable by the author of this page. In any event, you should enquire among the relevant resources in your institution: the library and the research support service.

Overviews

• Logan, J. A. R., Hart, S. A., & Schatschneider, C. (2021). Data sharing in education science. AERA Open, 7, 23328584211006475. https://doi.org/10.1177/23328584211006475

  A good introduction to the subject, with the purpose of raising awareness among education researchers and convincing them to seriously consider sharing their data.

• Sharing your data (n.d.). University of Cambridge, Research Data Management. https://www.data.cam.ac.uk/data-management-guide/sharing-your-data#What%20data%20do%20I%20share
• Sensitive research data management. A guide for addressing issues with sharing research data involving human subjects or other sensitive data sets. Purdue University, Librairies and School of Information Studies. https://guides.lib.purdue.edu/c.php?g=352785&p=2377925

  These two websites are complementary. The first covers the What, Why and How of data sharing, and suggests many examples of data availability & access statements. The second delves into the issues one faces when sharing sensitive data, for instance qualitative data obtained from human participants.

Those who prefer live presentations might find those two webinars very useful.

• Center for Open Science (2023, Jan. 26). Data sharing for qualitative research: Webinar and panel. YouTube. https://youtu.be/eWZvmSIfhQY
• F1000. (2022, Nov. 24). Sharing sensitive research data: What you need to consider [Webinar]. YouTube. https://youtube.be/Er4SrhtZFQk

  Guides & Resources

  • Neild, R. C., Robinson, D., & Agufa, J. (2022). Sharing study data : A guide for education researchers. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance. https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/pubs/2022004/
  • CESSDA Training Team (2020). CESSDA data management expert guide. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3820473

    The first one is a 60-page exhaustive guide presenting everything there is to know about data sharing. As data management is a condition for efficient sharing, one should consider consulting the second, more exhaustive guide, particularly relevant for the European context.

  • Training Resources (n.d.). Digital Research Alliance of Canada – Research Data Management. https://alliancecan.ca/en/services/research-data-management/learning-and-training/training-resources

    This section of DRAC website hosts a whole suite of guides and resources on research data management and sharing, with an emphasis on the Canadian context.

  Journal Articles

• Campbell, R., Javorka, M., Engleton, J., Fishwick, K., Gregory, K. et Goodman-Williams, R. (2023). Open-science guidance for qualitative research: An empirically validated approach for de-identifying sensitive narrative data. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 6(4), 25152459231205832. https://doi.org/10.1177/25152459231205832

  A fascinating case study about the challenges of sharing highly sensitive data. After reading this, one cannot think that some research contexts or types of data making data sharing impossible.

• Irvine, A. (2023). First steps in qualitative secondary analysis: Experiences of engaging with the primary research team. International Journal of Social Research Methodology. https://doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2023.2267836

  A first-person narrative of a case of reuse of qualitatative data, showing how it resulted in unexpected benefits for the reuser.