RECOMMENDED: Research data: To keep or not to keep?

A recent study, “Research data: To keep or not to keep?”, by Neil Beagrie (Charles Beagrie Ltd) aims to assist researchers in determining whether or not data collected should be retained. According to the study, reproducibility and research integrity and the potential for reuse of data for research are the primary factors in determining to keep data, though other more general principles are also mentioned.

Commissioned by Jisc, Beagrie interviewed 28 individuals in order to provide insight on assessing the value of the data and illustrate how these assessments can work in a practical setting across disciplines, but especially in the arts and humanities. In a world where copious amounts of data are constantly collected, insight about how to evaluate all of the information gathered can be quite useful to DH practitioners when supporting researchers who may not view their stuff as “data.” For instance, Simon McVeigh from the Practice Research Advisory Group points out the need for code-switching in meaningful ways when talking about data and shifting disciplinary norms, in order to raise awareness of preserving research data.