Producing Archive Ready Data Sets IASSIST 2006 Margaret Hedstrom Jinfang Niu Kaye Marz

Compliance, Incentives, Motivation Motivation –Data archiving processes are predicated on the assumption of some degree of cooperation between the producer and the archive Research Questions –How much effort are data producers willing to expend preparing data for deposit? –What incentives might induce data producers to improve the quality of data and metadata that they deposit?

Incentive study Best case scenario: Researchers are required by their sponsor (NIJ) to deposit data in an established archive (NACJD) Part 1: Survey of practice and attitudes Part 2: Lab experiments Part 3: Field experiments

Survey and Preliminary Results Objectives –Identify barriers to depositing data at ICPSR –Understand data producers’ attitudes about depositing data –Test hypotheses re: prior experience and attitudes about depositing data and incentive mechanisms –Identify potential incentive mechanisms for lab and field experiments

Survey Population NIJ-funded researchers –Recent depositors (N=58) Response rate 41.4% –New grantees (N=112) Response rate 27.7% –Total (N=170) Response Rate 32% Experienced and Mature Researchers –30+ years old (98%) –PhD (87%) –15+ years of research experience (83%)

Preliminary findings Experience with depositing data and conducting secondary analysis –Only one-third have deposited data two or more times –Only 14% have conducted secondary analysis two or more times

Incentives to encourage reuse and secondary analysis If more data sets related to their research were available (67.3%) If they could discuss the data set with the person who collected the data (41.8%) If the data sets had better documentation (32.7%) If the data archive provided more assistance with use of the data (30.9%) If they received credit for the effort they invested in order to use the data (12.7%)

Requirements and Guidance 95% were aware of the deposit requirement 31% were not aware of the NIJ Guidelines 47% were not aware of the ICPSR Guidelines Of respondents who were aware of the guidelines: –72% found the NIJ Guidelines useful or very useful –85% found the ICPSR Guidelines useful 65 % of respondent did not know what DDI is

Benefits of Depositing Data It saves other people the effort of collecting the same data again (76%) It increases the chances the data will be cited by other people, which will enhance my reputation (52%) It saves me effort in answering questions about the data (38%) As a social scientist, I routinely deposit my data in a public archive for the public good (36%) It saves me effort in managing and preserving the data (34%)

Incentives for Depositing Data If I thought the data that I deposited would really benefit many other people (65%) If depositing data was a mandatory to receive new funding from NIJ (50%) If depositing qualified data counted as a citable publication (37%) If other people’s citations of the data counted as citations to my work (33%) If depositing data were a prerequisite for publishing a paper derived from the data (27%) If I can get monetary compensation for depositing data(15%)

Incentives for Improving the Quality of Data and Documentation If I could get additional services from ICPSR (36%) If the quality of the data collection that I submitted was visible to others (34%) If data archivists would keep nagging me till they got the necessary information (32%) If I noticed that most other data depositors provided better information than I did (17%) If secondary users of the data would keep nagging me till they got the necessary information (11%) If my data would be released sooner (6%)

What would make depositing data easier? More time and financial support from NIJ (64%) Better tools (48%) More training in preparing data for deposit (38%) ICPSR could make the requirements shorter and easier (36%) ICPSR could handle confidentiality concerns for me (28%) Better guidelines for what the archive needs from me (28%) On-site help from data archivists (28%) Less staff turn over on our research project (12%)

Preliminary Conclusions Depositing data and using data archives for secondary analysis are uncommon practices Researchers have inadequate support from funding agencies for preparing data and documentation Researchers understand the benefits of depositing data for the larger community

Next Steps Laboratory experiments with incentive mechanisms that reflect researchers’ attitudes about sharing data Field experiments with promising mechanisms Recommendations to funding agencies

Thank You Incentives for data producers to create archive-ready data sets PI’s Margaret Hedstrom Yan Chen Myron Gutman NSF Award #