Where to share data
In the video, Isabel Chadwick explained that it is best practice to archive data and materials in an open access repository to make your research accessible. Whether you choose an institutional repository or a discipline’s repository, these trusted digital platforms provide a safe way to store research materials and data, and link to related content held elsewhere.
There are different repositories for different research fields and different types of data, but some examples are the Open Science Framework [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] , the Qualitative Data Repository, and Zenodo. Here is an example of how to share data and materials on the Open Science Framework. The Open University also has its own repository (ORDO) where data and materials from researchers at The Open University can be shared.
Case studies:
- Chemistry – This study by Lia et al. (2020) investigates the structure and mechanisms of one enzyme involved in the chain of reactions through which our bodies metabolise glucose. All the data in this study are openly available with the paper, which directs readers to RCSB Protein Data Bank and Zenodo for underlying data and extended data.
- Psychology – PLAY (Play & Learning Across a Year) is a project that aims to explore infants and their mother’s natural behaviours in their homes, across 50 universities in the United States. All materials, home visit protocols and the video and questionnaire data collected are all openly available on their website.
- Art – Quantitative and qualitative data and software related to an Open University PhD thesis by Kanter (2024) have been shared openly on ORDO. This thesis was about British portraiture in the 1900s.
Activity 2:
Allow around 15mins
In this activity, you will get the opportunity to explore an open access repository.
Have a look online for some open data and materials, preferably in your field of research. One way of doing this is to use keywords to search for projects on ZENODO. Use the ‘search records’ box at the top to select your keywords, and use ‘resource types’ to filter your search so that it only includes datasets. Think of ways you could use the research products you find to answer a question that interests you.
When you are ready, press 'reveal' to see our comments.
Discussion
Your response will depend on your discipline and interests, and those of the researchers whose work you found. You might decide to use the data to generate new knowledge by analysing the original researchers’ datasets in new ways, or by running a related study based on their materials.
Here’s a real-life example of how someone used data from the Open Science Framework platform for a secondary data analysis.
Prinzing (2024) reused data from an experience sampling study (where participants are repeatedly asked about their daily experiences related to a particular topic) on pro-environmental, sustainable behaviour. Prinzing used these data to investigate whether engaging in sustainable behaviour increased a person’s wellbeing. They shared some of the original data that they used and their analysis code on a separate OSF project. There are a few other things they could have done: they did not share a data dictionary, and they didn’t apply a license to the materials on their OSF project. Nevertheless, the author of this course, Silverstein (2020), was still able to reproduce their analyses using their data and code. Interestingly, in the process of conducting this reproduction, Silverstein found a typo in one of the values in the paper! The authors have now updated this.
Licensing data