BARRIERS TO SHARING RESEARCH DATA

Transcription

1 BARRIERS TO SHARING RESEARCH DATA An Interview Study Among University of Helsinki Researchers Helsinki University Library: (Helsinki University Library)

2 TOPICS Background & the methodology of the study How is the value of research data understood? Central factors affecting the longterm preservation of research data (Helsinki University Library)

3 BACKGROUND Request for information from the Ministry of Education and Culture in the spring 2017: the valuable research data in the University of Helsinki and the possibilities to deposit the UH data to the long term preservation The digital preservation system and service for research data (T-PAS) provided and planned by the Ministry of Education and Culture and the National Library The aim of our study: (1) to get an overview about the number and the quality of the valuable research data at the UH; (2) to hear interviewees opinions about the selection process of the valuable data at the UH The study is also in line with the University of Helsinki research data policy (2015): (Helsinki University Library)

4 METHODOLOGY The study was conducted by interviewing the Deans (4), the Vice-Deans responsible for research (5) and researchers etc. (21) from different faculties and research institutions at the University of Helsinki in summer/autumn interviews in the City Centre Campus (11), Kumpula Campus (7), Meilahti Campus (7) and Viikki Campus (5) additional survey in Viikki (7) in autumn 2017 City Centre = humanities and arts, social sciences, behavioural sciences, theology, law 6 faculties Kumpula = exact natural sciences 1 faculty Meilahti = medicine, biomedicine, psychology, logopedia 1 faculty Viikki = biosciences, agriculture and forestry, pharmacy, and veterinary medicine 4 faculties (Helsinki University Library)

5 INTERVIEWS Interview scheme included four themes: 1. The valuable research data and the quality of the data 2. The maintenance and the current situation of the data 3. Analogical data 4. Subsequent research and the re-use of the data and the limitations to the re-use A total of 22 questions in the interview scheme Average duration of the interviews varied from 20 to 50 minutes (Helsinki University Library)

6 HOW IS THE VALUE OF RESEARCH DATA UNDERSTOOD? (Helsinki University Library)

7 THE RESEARCHERS SENSE OF RESEARCH DATA Differences between disciplines with regard to research data: City Centre Campus and the other campuses Often the concept of data was consired during the interview for the first time There was general awareness of data, but precise mapping of research data is lacking Things that improve data comprehension: existing preservation models, international co-operation There is no knowledge about the valuable data the researchers possess (Helsinki University Library)

8 THE TRIANGLE Societal impact Quality of life Health Environment Public services Policy Creative activity Public engagement Understanding Education Economic impact Innovations Competitiveness Growth Jobs Budget savings Academic impact Theory Method Knowledge Technology development Researcher training Teaching and training Application (Helsinki University Library)

9 VALUABLE RESEARCH DATA Examples of valuable research data was given in all the interviews In City Centre Campus the researchers emphasized the cultural-societal values, in other campuses also economical values academic/scientific value was central in all the disciplines Types of valuable data: long time series, large data sets and unique data; expensive and multinational research data Metadata makes the data valuable (Helsinki University Library)

10 HOW SHOULD THE VALUABLE RESEARCH DATA BE CHOSEN TO DATA ARCHIVE? Many researchers opinion: the researchers must play a key role in selecting data Dual board model: suggestion comes from the researcher and a panel of experts makes the final decision Assessment of metadata is a crucial selection criteria this was not mentioned by the interviewees, but the value of metadata was acknowledged. I can t say what instance could say what is the value of this research in ten years time. Science progresses rapidly. I wouldn t want to make that assessment myself. (Helsinki University Library)

11 Central factors affecting long-term preservation of research data (Helsinki University Library)

12 CURRENT STORAGE OF DATA At University of Helsinki the researcher herself or the research team is responsible for the research data Storage in hard drives, personal network drives, group storage space, cloud services, memory sticks, external hard drives, sometimes even floppy discs Centralized biobanks in Meilahti Campus Analogical research data is stored, in cupboards, archives and physical storage spaces in cellars, attics, etc. (Helsinki University Library)

13 CURRENT STORAGE OF DATA In Meilahti Campus millions of patient samples in glass tubes are stored in freezers (according to law, the samples have to be preserved for 15 years) In Viikki&Meilahti Campus researchers have to sleep with mobile phones, which may ring anytime warning of security hazards in the freezers where samples are preserved. Even in Kumpula Campus some analogical data is stored: photos, old notes and physical samples; some digital data is stored in servers outside of Finland BARRIER 1: The data may be destroyed due to careless storage practices of individuals. (Helsinki University Library)

14 SIZE AND FILE FORMATS OF DATA In Kumpula Campus the outcome of one single day in disciplines of physics or astronomy can be a terabyte or a petabyte of raw data In Meilahti the data of Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland is 200 terabytes and there are genomes in a database where the size of each genome is around ten terabytes In Viikki there is a large collection of pharmaceutical data The City Centre Campus has comparatively smaller collections of data than other campuses BARRIER 2: Big size: difficult to find long-term preservation space. Small size: preservation easily ignored. (Helsinki University Library)

15 SIZE AND FILE FORMATS OF DATA Most of the data at UH is in standard file formats (for example, MS Office, txt, pdf, dvd, video formats (avi), audio formats (mp4, waw), image formats (gif, jpg, png, tiff), but there are a lot of exceptions to these in all campuses In City Centre Campus, some original codes are produced, statistics formats In Kumpula, ASCII, 3d-data, root In Meilahti, magnetic resonance images and laboratory formats In Viikki, some microscope-images in original formats Both in Kumpula and Meilahti there is some device-dependent data BARRIER 3: Some devices or programs have to be preserved with the data. (Helsinki University Library)

16 SENSITIVITY OF THE DATA A lot of data is sensitive in Meilahti Campus: patient records, samples, research done with medical companies; the same applies to veterinary medicine in Viikki Use regulated by legislation - requires consent of the patient Some sensitive material in City Centre Campus (interview material etc. requires anonymisation); almost no sensitive data in Kumpula It seems to me that it is not understood properly that this kind of sensitive data cannot be freely given at all to be used outside of the research project BARRIER 4: the use of the sensitive material has to be restricted (Helsinki University Library)

17 DESCRIBING DATA In very few cases there was an adequate description of data (metadata) Usually it was promted by some external pressure, such as international standards, international co-operation, public use or internal pressure in larger research groups Creating metadata was often seen as extra work which can be left to others, such as library personnel or research assistants Insufficient knowledge of metadata standards education is needed (Helsinki University Library)

18 DESCRIBING DATA The problem: description of data can be made only by the researcher herself during the research it cannot be made afterwards and the person responsible for it has to know the research in detail Solution: creating metadata has to be understood as an integral part of the research process Barrier 5: lack of metadata prevents the subsequent use of the research data (Helsinki University Library)

19 A CEMETARY OF DATA? I think that such a storehouse will become a cemetary for obsolete research and the data will just rest there. - A researcher from Meilahti on the planned T-PAS (Helsinki University Library)

20 THANK YOU! (Helsinki University Library)