LibGuides: Data and Statistics: Considerations Around Data

Introduction

This section outlines considerations to be aware of when collecting, sharing, and reusing data. It is not meant to be exhaustive.

Collecting Data

Some considerations when collecting data include:

Understanding the cultural values of communities
Concerns about identification of a specific population of people
Conservation concerns, such as the location of endangered species
Privacy and confidentiality of PII and medical information
National and commercial interest
Documentation (also called metadata) of your data is information that is essential for both you and others who may want to use your data. Refer to the Data Management @ ODU Data Management Essentials section for additional information.

Additional Information:

CARE Data Principles
The CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance are people and purpose-oriented, reflecting the crucial role of data in advancing Indigenous innovation and self-determination.
Iowa State University Research Data Ethics
Research data should be collected, stored, processed, and shared in a responsible and ethical manner. This page contains information on how to identify and protect data stakeholders as well as how to safely share biohazard data, data on protected or threatened species, and more.
University of Wisconsin-Madison - Responsible Data Planning, Use, and Sharing
This micro-course will provide an introduction to the current landscape of policies and regulations that inform working responsibly with research data, and then will discuss developing plans for data management and data sharing.

Sharing Data

You may hear about data being “as open as possible, as closed as necessary”. It is not always necessary, or responsible, to share data publicly. Privacy, confidentiality, and other ethical considerations may be present, especially with human subjects data.

Some things we might be able to do to mitigate concerns when sharing data are:

Gaining informed consent for sharing at the outset of a project
De-identifying or anonymizing data
Releasing data in a more aggregated form
Using restricted and controlled access

Additional Information:

ICPSR Share & Manage Data: Introduction & Overview
An introduction to why data should be shared, how to share, and benefits of sharing data with ICPSR.
Qualitative Data Repository (QDR) Human Participants General Guidance
If your work involves human participants, there are important questions related to interacting with those individuals that you should begin to consider from the early planning stages of your project. We offer here and on the pages linked below general guidance for safely and ethically collecting information from human participants, and for managing and potentially sharing that information.
NIH Grants & Funding - Privacy
Responsible scientific data sharing practices promote both effective data stewardship and protection of human research participant privacy. Learn about how to protect the privacy of human research participants when sharing data under NIH policies.

Reusing Data

If you are considering using data from a secondary source, keep the following in mind:

Is the data in the public domain (free to use, but attribution is recommended)?
Are there licensing terms that apply to data and code?
Is the data restricted in some way?
What do the terms and conditions allow?

We should always be critical of the data we intend to use:

What is the source (or provenance) of the data? (Where did the data come from?)
How old are the data?
Are the data relevant?
Did the researchers outline their own limitations, assumptions, or biases?
Can we tell if information is missing or omitted, whether intentionally or unintentionally?

Data are a part of the scholarly record. If you use data, you should cite that data just as you would a journal article, newspaper article, or website.

Additional Information

ICPSR Navigating around Restricted Data
Tips and tools for finding available data related to sensitive topics in ICPSR.
Cornell Data Services - Data Citation
Proper citation of data sources has both immediate and long term benefits to users and producers of data. Learn about the benefits, components, and see examples.