Revisiting Qualitative Data Reuse
Secondary analysis of qualitative data entails reusing data created from previous research projects for new purposes. Reuse provides an opportunity to study the raw materials of past research projects to gain methodological and substantive insights. In the past decade, use of the approach has grown...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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SAGE Publishing
2017-01-01
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| Series: | SAGE Open |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244016685136 |
| _version_ | 1818257993979920384 |
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| author | Libby Bishop Arja Kuula-Luumi |
| author_facet | Libby Bishop Arja Kuula-Luumi |
| author_sort | Libby Bishop |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Secondary analysis of qualitative data entails reusing data created from previous research projects for new purposes. Reuse provides an opportunity to study the raw materials of past research projects to gain methodological and substantive insights. In the past decade, use of the approach has grown rapidly in the United Kingdom to become sufficiently accepted that it must now be regarded as mainstream. Several factors explain this growth: the open data movement, research funders’ and publishers’ policies supporting data sharing, and researchers seeing benefits from sharing resources, including data. Another factor enabling qualitative data reuse has been improved services and infrastructure that facilitate access to thousands of data collections. The UK Data Service is an example of a well-established facility; more recent has been the proliferation of repositories being established within universities. This article will provide evidence of the growth of data reuse in the United Kingdom and in Finland by presenting both data and case studies of reuse that illustrate the breadth and diversity of this maturing research method. We use two distinct data sources that quantify the scale, types, and trends of reuse of qualitative data: (a) downloads of archived data collections held at data repositories and (b) publication citations. Although the focus of this article is on the United Kingdom, some discussion of the international environment is provided, together with data and examples of reuse at the Finnish Social Science Data Archive. The conclusion summarizes the major findings, including some conjectures regarding what makes qualitative data attractive for reuse and sharing. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T17:52:29Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fc7eaaa8c2d445a69a876db2ad707016 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2158-2440 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T17:52:29Z |
| publishDate | 2017-01-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | SAGE Open |
| spelling | doaj.art-fc7eaaa8c2d445a69a876db2ad7070162022-12-22T00:16:48ZengSAGE PublishingSAGE Open2158-24402017-01-01710.1177/215824401668513610.1177_2158244016685136Revisiting Qualitative Data ReuseLibby Bishop0Arja Kuula-Luumi1UK Data Archive, University of Essex, Colchester, UKFinnish Social Science Data Archive, Tampere, FinlandSecondary analysis of qualitative data entails reusing data created from previous research projects for new purposes. Reuse provides an opportunity to study the raw materials of past research projects to gain methodological and substantive insights. In the past decade, use of the approach has grown rapidly in the United Kingdom to become sufficiently accepted that it must now be regarded as mainstream. Several factors explain this growth: the open data movement, research funders’ and publishers’ policies supporting data sharing, and researchers seeing benefits from sharing resources, including data. Another factor enabling qualitative data reuse has been improved services and infrastructure that facilitate access to thousands of data collections. The UK Data Service is an example of a well-established facility; more recent has been the proliferation of repositories being established within universities. This article will provide evidence of the growth of data reuse in the United Kingdom and in Finland by presenting both data and case studies of reuse that illustrate the breadth and diversity of this maturing research method. We use two distinct data sources that quantify the scale, types, and trends of reuse of qualitative data: (a) downloads of archived data collections held at data repositories and (b) publication citations. Although the focus of this article is on the United Kingdom, some discussion of the international environment is provided, together with data and examples of reuse at the Finnish Social Science Data Archive. The conclusion summarizes the major findings, including some conjectures regarding what makes qualitative data attractive for reuse and sharing.https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244016685136 |
| spellingShingle | Libby Bishop Arja Kuula-Luumi Revisiting Qualitative Data Reuse SAGE Open |
| title | Revisiting Qualitative Data Reuse |
| title_full | Revisiting Qualitative Data Reuse |
| title_fullStr | Revisiting Qualitative Data Reuse |
| title_full_unstemmed | Revisiting Qualitative Data Reuse |
| title_short | Revisiting Qualitative Data Reuse |
| title_sort | revisiting qualitative data reuse |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244016685136 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT libbybishop revisitingqualitativedatareuse AT arjakuulaluumi revisitingqualitativedatareuse |