Guidelines for data preparation - ESRC Datasets Policy

Louise CortiESDS/UKDA

Social Science Data Archives for Social Historians: creating, depositing and using qualitative data

25 November 2003

Data creation and deposit: best practice

• Early advice to data creators:– high quality data and documentation– consent and ethical issues are taken on

board– IPR issues considered

• Promoting standards in: – research design– transcription techniques– data and project management– documenting data collection & analysis

ESRC Datasets Policy –what is expected of award holders?

• to preserve and share data from ESRC funded research

• funding allowed to prepare data for archiving • all award-holders must offer data for deposit to

the ESDS within 3 mths of the end of the award • any potential problems should be notified to the

ESDS at the earliest opportunity • final payment will be withheld if dataset has not

been deposited within 3 mths of the end of the award, except where a waiver has been agreed in advance

• ESRC Datasets Policy http://www.esrc.ac.uk/esrccontent/researchfunding/sec17.asp

Legal issues in data preparation

• Copyright Act 1988

• ‘duty of confidentiality’• - not governed by an Act of Parliament• - not necessarily in writing• - can be a legal contractual obligation

• Law of Defamation- a defamatory statement is one which may injure the reputation of another person, company or business

• Data Protection Act 1998- allows for secondary use of data for research purposes under certain conditions

Copyright

• protection of author’s rights• automatically assigned to the speaker• researcher holds the copyright in the

sound recording of an interview• employer holds the copyright in research

data • obtain copyright clearance from

employer• obtain written assignment of copyright

from interviewee• seek legal advice on problem issues

Confidentiality: legal issues

• disclosure of information may constitute a breach of confidentiality and possibly a breach of contract

• exemptions are:– relevant police investigations or proceedings– disclosure by court order– ‘public interest’ - defined by the courts– ethical obligations in cases of disclosure of

child abuse

Confidentiality: ethical issues

• anonymity and privacy of research participants should be respected

• data should be anonymised

• current and future use of the data should be explained

• informed consent should be sought

Consent for archiving

• ‘informed’ explicit consent• information for research participants

should include: purpose of research what is involved in participation benefits and risks storage of data access to data usage of data withdrawal of consent at any time.

• N.B. Additional measures are needed when participants are unable to consent through incapacity or age

Options for preserving confidentiality in archived data

• anonymisation• consent to archive at the time of

field work• researcher contacts informants

retrospectively• user undertakings• in exceptional circumstances -

permission or closure of material

Depositing data with ESDS

• within 3 mths of the end of the award, provide details of all data collected, together with three samples of qualitative data, if applicable

• to do this, complete the Data Submission form on the ‘Deposit’ pages on UKDA website

• dataset will then be reviewed for archiving by the UKDA Acquisitions Review Committee

• if accepted, complete the Archive’s Deposit and Licence forms, and send the data, documentation and forms to the UK Data Archive within the required time-scales

• you will be notified when your data are being released via the UKDA online catalogue

• access to data will be granted to registered bona fide researchers only