Retaining research data.
Since 1967 research data arising out of projects funded by the Economic and
Soial Science Resaech Council has to be offered for arhiving. This largely
applied to electronic data in the form of statistical dataests, but since
1996 has explicity included all forms of data. Please see the ESRC website
section on the Datasets Policy http://www.esrc.ac.uk/resfund.htm section 17
(extracted below). Many other funding bodies for social science now include
archival clauses in their contracts.
The Data Archive and Qualiadat are the 2 clearing houses who deal with such
data.
For further info or specfici enquiries please contact us!
****************************************************************************
*********************
Dataset deposit requirements
17.2.1 The ESRC supports two Resource Centres with responsibilities for the
cataloguing and archiving of data. The Data Archive is responsible for
machine-readable data. These data tend to be quantitative data, but
increasingly include qualitative data. The Data Archive catalogues, stores
and disseminates data from the University of Essex site. The Qualitative
Data Archival Resource Centre (Qualidata) is also based at the University of
Essex and has the responsibility for qualitative data in both
machine-readable and non-machine-readable form. Qualidata catalogues
datasets at the Essex site but the data are stored elsewhere, at a relevant
specialist repository (including the Data Archive).
17.2.2 The ESRC requires all award-holders to offer for deposit copies of
both machine-readable and non-machine-readable qualitative data to Qualidata
within three months of the end of the award. This relates not only to
datasets arising as a result of primary data collection, but also to derived
datasets resulting from ESRC-funded work. These data may be held in one or
more formats, for example interview transcripts; diaries; field notes;
observational recordings; audio tapes; audio-visual recordings; photographs;
press clippings; personal documents, etc. The dataset must be deposited to a
standard which would enable the data to be used by a third party, including
the provision of adequate documentation. Depositors are advised to contact
Qualidata at the earliest opportunity should the nature of the data be such
that it may be difficult to lodge the data with a public repository or
archive.
17.2.3 The ESRC will withhold the final payment of an award if any
machine-readable dataset has not been deposited to the required standard at
the Data Archive within three months of the end of the award, except where a
modification or waiver of deposit requirements has been agreed in advance
(see paragraph 17.2.6).
17.2.4 In order to assist award-holders to deposit their data, the ESRC is
prepared to allow a time period within the award, and adequate funding for
the preparation of data for archiving. This should be specified in the
application.
17.2.5 Applicants who are likely to produce a dataset of any kind as a
result of their award are recommended to contact the Data Archive or
Qualidata, whichever is most relevant, prior to making their application.
>From here, applicants can obtain details of deposit requirements so that
adequate provision for preparation of data for deposit can be made in the
application. The staff of the Archive or Qualidata will be pleased to offer
advice to applicants at this stage. Specifications for the data and
documentation are laid down in the Archive's Data Preparation Manual
available from the Archive and in the Guidelines for Depositing Qualitative
Data available from Qualidata. At the time of deposit, the award-holder will
be asked to sign a licence contract specifying conditions of access,
including the degree of confidentiality to be observed in making the data
available to others. Enquiries should be addressed to: The Director, Data
Archive, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester CO4 3SQ or The
Director, Qualidata, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester CO4 3SQ.
17.2.6 Should any problem relating to the deposit of the data be foreseen,
award-holders should contact the Director of either the Data Archive or
Qualidata, or the ESRC at the earliest opportunity. Problems may include
issues of confidentiality; data ownership; copyright; subject anonymity,
etc. It is possible that a request for a modification or waiver of the
deposit requirements may be granted by the ESRC, as advised by the Director
of the Data Archive or Qualidata, whichever is relevant, should there prove
to be a strong case for doing so.
17.3 Use of datasets in ESRC-funded research
17.3.1 Any applicant whose research proposal involves funds for primary data
collection, or for access to existing datasets, must establish in their
application that the required data are not already publicly available. This
is to ensure that the ESRC does not duplicate its funding effort, for
example, by funding the acquisition of part of a dataset which is already
available from the Data Archive or some other data repository. The Data
Archive holds not only specific datasets, but also information about where
datasets not held at the Archive may be found. Qualidata does not store
datasets but has information about where qualitative data can be found and
how the data can be obtained. Both the Data Archive and Qualidata will be
pleased to advise applicants on the availability of datasets within the
academic community.
17.3.2 Both Resource Centres have extensive WWW pages describing their
services and providing access to their respective catalogues. These WWW
pages can be accessed at:
Data Archive http://dawww.essex.ac.uk/
Qualidata http://www.essex.ac.uk/qualidata/
17.3.3 In order to promote awareness of datasets, and encourage their use,
the ESRC encourages applicants to cite any datasets used for, or produced as
part of, ESRC-funded research in any published materials.
***************************************************************************
ESRC
Louise Corti
Deputy Director and Manager, Qualidata
Department of Sociology
University of Essex
Colchester CO4 3SQ
UK
Tel: + 44 1206 873058
email: [log in to unmask]
http://www.essex.ac.uk/qualidata/
-----Original Message-----
From: Gerry Dane [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 09 August 2000 17:12
To: ArchivesNRA
Subject: Re: Research Data
Jennifer Haynes wrote:
"very interested to hear from others about
common/best practice in the semi-current retention (rather
than permanent preservation for re-use) of social science
data, whether qualitative or quantitative, and to hear of
any other guidelines from authorities that might carry
weight amongst academics"
Yes! this is the thrust of it.
Does best practice, in those knowledge areas governed by (at least some)
regulations, constitute a good basis (I say yes) for research data retention
guidelines across the board.
The broad concern is that without some such generic guideline, we end up
favouring certain areas of knowledge research at the expense of others.
Gerry Dane.
Mr.G.Dane.
Room: 6.13
6, Kensington Terrace,
University of Newcastle,
Newcastle upon Tyne.
NE1 7RU
Tel: 0191 222 5908
Fax: 0191 222 6229
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The views expressed in this message are those of the
sender and not necessarily those of the University.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
|
