ethics

Planning to archive your postgraduate research data? 6 things to bear in mind


The value of data archiving is increasingly recognised in Irish research policy. For example, the Irish Research Council (formerly IRCHSS) requires that "whenever data is to be collected with the support of a grant awarded by IRCHSS, applicants must specify the means by which that data will be made available as a public good for the use by other researchers". If you plan to deposit your qualitative research data within an archive, there are six aspects of best practice to bear in mind. 
 
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1. Plan ahead

  • Ensure that a comprehensive data management plan is in place at the onset of your project, and continue this through to the data archiving and dissemination phases of your project. 
  • Gain and record consent from participants to ensure that ethical and legal procedures are respected. Consent should include both consent to participate in the project and consent to archive the data. IQDA sample consent form 
  • Ensure that data are collected in an open source formats such as Rich Text Format (.rtf) or Plain text data (.txt) for text files, and WAV (.wav) or Free Lossless Audio Codec (.flac) for audio files. 
  • Develop an anonymisation plan to preserve participant privacy and confidentiality. Identify texts that may be particularly sensitive and develop an archiving plan for such data. Common approaches include removal of sensitive text segments or placing a time embargo on dissemination of the archived document. 

 
2. Use the available software

  • Encryption software ensures that data are not accessible to unauthorised users. Common encryption programmes include TruCrypt, GnuPG and PGP. 
  • Automated anonymisation tools enable a standardised and rigorous anonymisation process for textual materials, but bear in mind that all documents must also be manually reviewed following the automated anonymisation process. The IQDA supplies an anonymisation tool here and guidelines and using this tool 

 
3. Keep track of all changes 

  • This is a time-intensive process that is generally carried out by the researcher and it is wise to build in the costs associated with this process when applying for funding. This generally involves locating major identifying data (such as names) any identifying details (such as occupation details) within each text, and selecting replacement pseudonyms that reflect the significance of the original text. Create a 'Changes File' in which the pseudonyms that have been used to anonymise data are recorded. 
  • Use a clear and consistent unique identifier to indicate text that has been anonymised. IQDA guidelines on anonymising data
  • You may come across areas where there is doubt as to the best way to proceed with anonymisation of data. Keep track of any areas of such doubt in your 'Changes File' whereby such alerts can be reviewed at the end of the process, perhaps in consultation with a supervisor. 

 
4. Make your data re-usable by future researchers   

  • During the process of anonymisation, sensitive statements that have been noted in the 'Changes File' will be altered using appropriate pseudonyms. If a statement cannot be anonymised the entire text may need to be removed and explicitly marked as such. 
  • Include additional contextual data (metadata) to facilitate re-use, by creating a header within each document that contains brief contextual details such as gender of those present, location of interview and so on.  
  • Prepare a 'User Guide' which gives an overview of the data to assist re-use in the future. IQDA guide to material that may be included 

 
5. Deposit the anonymised data with the archive 

  • Deposit the final anonymised document as a read-only file, which allows users to copy and paste as required but not to alter data.
  • Create a dataset that contains all the sensitive segments that have been removed or changed. If possible deposit this dataset with a long-term embargo on access, so that in the future researchers will have access to the full data-set as the level of sensitivity reduces with the passage of time. 

 
6. Disseminate the anonymised data via the archive 

  • Once deposited the archive should manage all user queries and access to the data on your behalf. The archive should have validation procedures in place for granting access to end-users of your data. IQDA example of an end-user licence 
  • The archive should have a standard citation protocol whereby end-user will acknowledge you as the data creator. 

 
This is a summary of the longer document Best Practice in Archiving Qualitative Data. Please refer to the longer document for more details on any of the above. 
 
 
 

Oral History Network of Ireland Seminar: Collecting Oral Narratives: Ethics, Best Practice and the Law

By Irish Qualitati... ~ Posted Tue, 03/06/2012 - 12:13

Title: Collecting Oral Narratives: Ethics, Best Practice and the Law

Date: Wednesday, 21 March 2012
Time: 6pm sharp.  Coffee and tea will be served from 5.30pm.
Venue: Royal Irish Academy, Dawson Street, Dublin 2

Event Summary: There are ethical and legal issues involved in the collection, storage and use of recorded spoken memories of the past, and OHNI members consider that it would be useful to have these issues debated by people with relevant expertise in a public forum. While oral history can offer access to aspects of the past not available through other sources, when used without careful consideration of these issues it can present difficulties.

The network is bringing together a panel of experts to start the discussion, which will be chaired by Justice Catherine McGuinness.  The panel includes archivists, lawyers specializing in the law as it applies to the collection, storage and dissemination of oral narratives, and historians. OHNI is also assembling an invited audience with specialist expertise to help enhance the debate from the floor.  Places will also be available to other interested parties on a first come, first served basis.

RSVP: If you are interested in attending the seminar please contact either Mary Muldowney ( mmuldwny@oralhistorynetworkireland.ie) or Ida Milne ( milnei@oralhistorynetworkireland.ie) as soon as possible. We expect there to be a keen demand for places which are limited by the size of the venue.

See the Oral History Network of Ireland website for more information
 
 

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Ethical Approval for Social Network Research

By Irish Qualitati... ~ Posted Mon, 02/14/2011 - 10:55

There is an interesting discussion about securing ethical approval for social network research on orgtheory.net
http://orgtheory.wordpress.com/2011/02/10/unusual-irb-requests/#comments
 
 

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Upcoming IQDA seminars on Qualitative Research and Archiving

By Irish Qualitati... ~ Posted Thu, 11/18/2010 - 10:20

There are three upcoming seminars which will be of interest to those hoping to archive their qualitative data.

Title: Ethics review system and researching minors
Date: Wednesday, 24th November 2010
Speaker: Dr Arja Kuula (Finnish Social Science Data Archive/University of Tampere, Finland) hosted by IQDA/NIRSA
Venue: NIRSA seminar room, top floor Iontas building. 4 pm -5.30 pm
Summary: Finland has recently established an ethics review system which will be common to all universities. The presentation will focus specifically on research with children and underage young people. In Finland it is not assumed that researchers should always request a separate consent from a guardian for research involving minors. The difficult balance between the principles of autonomy and protection when aiming to minimise harm to those affected by research will be discussed

Title: Should we reconsider our ethics?
Date: Thursday, 25th November 2010
Speaker: Dr Arja Kuula (Finnish Social Science Data Archive/University of Tampere, Finland) hosted by The Department of Sociology, NUIM
Venue: TBC
Summary: When rejecting the archiving of qualitative interviews, researchers mainly invoke the confidentiality of the interview situation. Researchers tend to define the interview relationship as something unpredictable and private, and interviewees as participants in need of protection. According to the experiences of Finnish Social Science Data archive the interviewees themselves define the relationship as an institutional one aiming to foster science. The participants also value the idea of archiving their experiences for future research. So should we move beyond the ethical impasse of ethical objection to data archiving?
Arja Kuula has a PhD in Sociology and works as a development manager in the Finnish Social Science Data Archive. She is responsible for the archiving processes of qualitative data and information service on research ethics, privacy protection and copyright issues relating to both quantitative and qualitative data. In 2006, Kuula published a handbook on research ethics and legislation regulating data collection
and re-use. Kuula has been a member of the Finland's National Advisory Board on Research Ethics and she chaired 2008 a working group to make a plan for ethics review system in the humanities and social sciences in Finland.

Title: The trouble with sharing: best practice in archiving qualitative data
Date: Tuesday, 30th of November 2010
Summary: The RAcCER Project, a joint initiative of the Irish Qualitative Data Archive and  Tallaght West Childhood Development Initiative (CDI)
Venue: Centre for Effective Services Services, 9 Harcourt Street, Dublin 2
RSVP: aileen.ocarroll@nuim.ie by Friday the 26th of November
RAcCER Re-use and Archiving of Complex Community-Based Evaluation Research
 
 

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