Irish Qualitative Data Archive
Dr. Jane Gray
Irish Qualitative Data Archive, National Institute for Regional
and Spatial Analysis NUI Maynooth
Who We Are
• Established in 2008 as part of the Irish Social
Science Platform under PRTLI4
• Housed in the National Institute for Regional
and Spatial Analysis at NUI Maynooth
• Aims:
– To be the central access point for all qualitative
social science data generated in Ireland
– Promote best practice in data management
• Participant in consortium to develop the Digital
Repository of Ireland under PRTLI5
Qualitative Data
• What kinds of data do
we archive?
– Interviews (audio,
video, transcripts)
– Focus groups
– Diaries and documents
– Field notes
– Photographs
• Why re-use archived
qualitative data?
– Ask new questions
– Comparative studies
– Learn by looking at the
work of others
– Reduce burden on
respondents
Growing Up in Ireland
• Qualitative module
– Interviews with children
– Interviews with parents
– Time capsules
– Field notes
• First wave of interviews
with sample of 120
families from the 9 year
cohort
R ok. So what about again if you think into the future, is there anything that you think that you would be worried about?
C getting a job
R ok. Why do you think that’s a worry, do you think that might be hard?
C yeah
R what do you think makes that hard?
C that other people apply and they could just get it R so before you. Is there any job in particular that you think you might like to do? Apart from soccer player, you'll probably earn loads of money from that so you won’t need a job! But if you had to get a job is there anything?
C maybe to have a @@shop## R ok. What would you sell?
C plants and carpets, bowls and plates, cups and toys
Protestants and Irishness in
Independent Ireland
We walked from here … we had
a protestant school .. They’d
have to go into their own school
further in the town. And we
connected in the morning and,
in. out .. We visited, we kicked
football, we were always pals …
oh,we’d have a slagging match
coming out the road, all right …
Catholic, Catholic, quack,quack,
quack, Go to the divvil, and
never come back. Protestant,
Protestant, - they had some
other rhyme! That’s all. And go
away laughing .. Meant nothing
•
Oral history comprising more than one
hundred interviews
Irish Catholics in Scotland
! “As soon as the school closed we went across. My father would be working and then he would come across for a fortnight for the Fair. So as soon as we went over there the first thing we would do was throw off our shoes and socks and that would be us more or less for the holiday, apart from Sundays, running about in our bare feet .. .
! That was the whole idea to get away from city life. I remember thinking some of the days we would be coming back and you would be saying to yourself just think tomorrow we'll be in
Glasgow and it was really a sad occasion and when the mini bus came to pick us up, there would be a dozen of us going back and one person would start crying and that started us all, and my oldest brother would go around saying cheerio to the hens and the cows and it was terrible. It is still a wrench leaving the place and coming back but in those days you knew that was it for another year. “
Life Histories and Social Change in
20
th
Century Ireland
Retrospective qualitative
interviews with more than 100
respondents (three birth
cohorts) who took part in all
eight waves of the Living in
Ireland study
"My mother used to
make a ball and we
used to play ball, she
used to make a hurl out
of a bit of a board and
make the handle a bit
thin and you could catch
it, no shape or make it
only a bit of a board.
And she used to make a
ball out of a soft set of
turf and put an old sock
around it"
Suburban Affiliations
• Four suburban
localities in Greater
Dublin Area
• Mixed methods
• Includes:
– Focus groups with
sixth class children
– Essays on ‘The Place
Where I Live’
Best Practice in Data Management:
the RACcER Project
• Demonstrator project
co-funded by IRCHSS
and Tallaght West
Childhood Development
Initiative
• Best Practice Handbook
• Archive of CDI internal
documents
– Minutes and agendas from
Board, Management Team,
Communities of Practice
Ethical Framework
• Consent
• Anonymisation
• Depositor and
end-user licenses
and legal
agreements
• Access and user
restrictions
Best practice in qualitative data archiving requires attention to the following six interrelated processes:
This handbook reviews each process in turn.
Data management for deposit
• Seek informed consent to archiving
• Prepare data in suitable format
• Develop an anonymisation plan
• Develop an archiving strategy for sensitive
data
• Prepare a user guide
Sample consent form
Sample
Sample
Sample
Sample
Sample
Sample
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Sample
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Sample
Data formats
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Appendix 2: Archiving Formats
Text Formats:
Preferred
* Rich Text Format (.rtf) * Plain text data, ASCII (.txt)
* eXtensible Markup Language (XML) marked-up text according to an appropriate Document Type Definition (DTD) or schema
Accepted
* Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)
* widely-used proprietary formats e.g. Microsoft Word (.doc/.docx) * Proprietary/software-specific formats such as NUD*IST, NVivo and ATLAS.ti
Audio Formats:
Preferred:
* Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) (.flac) * WAV file (.wav)
Accepted:
* MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 (MP3) *Audio Interchange File Format (.aiff)
Note. Many commercial digital diction recorders produced by Olympus, Philips and Grundig record in DSS format, which is not ideal if the data are to be archived. When buying a recorder ensure it records in WAV format and at a minimum 44.1k sampling rate.
Anonymisation
• General approach
– Remove major identifying data and all identifying
details
– Replace with descriptions that reflect significance of
original text in context
– Create a ‘changes file’ to record actions and alerts
– Use a clear and consistent identifier
• Consider using a semi-automated anonymisation
tool
Dealing with sensitive data
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For the Researcher (Data Depositor):
! Plan to gain and record consent from research participants to ensure that ethical and legal procedures are respected. This consent should include consent to participate in the project and consent to archive the data. Sample consent forms, and a discussion of other issues to be considered, are available on the IQDA website (www.iqda.ie).
! Ensure data are collected in a format that enables archiving and usage (see Appendix 2 for more information). Remember, a key goal of archiving is to facilitate re-use in the long term – many file formats used in the past are no longer accessible. In general, open source formats are more accessible than proprietary file formats linked to a particular company or product. If using a digital recording device, ensure it records using WAV files.
! Develop an anonymisation plan to preserve respondent privacy and confidentiality if required under the consent agreement. In most cases, professional ethical standards recommend anonymisation of personal details to preserve respondent confidentiality.
! As the project progresses, identify which text within a document may be particularly sensitive and develop an archiving plan for this data. One approach to developing such a plan is to consider the levels of risk attached to the text across two parameters:
! Is there a risk that the text will allow the research participant to be identified?
! Is there a risk that the text will be harmful to the research participant? For example, might the text expose the participant to ridicule or have other adverse consequences for them? By examining these two parameters it is possible to make an overall assessment of the risk level of the data (see Table 1).
Table 1: Assessing Sensitivity Level of the Data
Risk of Identification Risk Of Harm Sensitivity Level Little Low Low
Some Low Medium Any High High
Once the level of risk has been identified, an archiving strategy can be developed that is appropriate to that level of risk. Common approaches
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to dealing with sensitive data include removal of sensitive text segments
or placing a time embargo on dissemination of the archived document.
Where text has been excised, it is essential that this is noted either in
the archived documents, or in the user guide. An example of such a
strategy is shown in Table 2.
Table 2: Developing an Archiving Strategy Appropriate to the Level of Sensitivity
Sensitivity Level (See Table 1) Participant Consent Anon-ymised Access Remove Sensitive Text Embargo (Anonymised Sensitive Text Removed) 30 Year Embargo (Sensitive Text Not Removed) Low Yes Yes Restricted N/A No No
Medium Yes Yes Restricted No No No High Yes Yes Restricted Yes No Yes
Implementation of the strategy will ensure that the sensitivity levels of the
archived documents are reduced following data preparation and
processing.
! Create a robust back up procedure to protect data from the threat of
technical failure. “321 backup” is a handy rule of thumb: have three
copies of your data, on two different types of media, with one version at
an offsite location.
For the Data Curator
! Develop clear and easily used data encryption procedures to collect the
data from the depositors in a manner that ensures preservation of
respondent privacy and confidentiality. We provide information on
software for encryption in Section 2, below.
! Confirm with the depositors that there are no legal barriers to archiving
their data (e.g. ascertain where ownership of the data lies).
! Confirm that there are no ethical obstacles to archiving (e.g. ascertain
the level of consent obtained).
! Identify clearly which person among the depositors (i.e. within the
organisation or research team) has responsibility for making decisions
about archiving, including access to the data. It is important to remember
that archives are created for long-term use, and will outlive depositors,
whether they are individuals or organisations. For this reason, access
agreements need to transfer decisions on access from the depositor to
Thursday 26 January 12Deposit data
16
Depositor Agreement
Dataset Title:
Conditions of archiving and re-use:
With this agreement and completed online catalogue entry, I/We submit the above mentioned dataset with its supplementary documents to be archived at the Irish Qualitative Data Archive (IQDA).
Unless otherwise stated in this agreement, the depositor or the
depositing body will retain the ownership and copyright to the dataset and related material.
The depositor affirms that the dataset has been prepared in such manner as to protect the confidentiality of individuals and bodies whose details appear in the data, in compliance with professional norms. The
depositor undertakes that the dataset does not contravene any laws including but not limited to those relating to defamation or obscenity. IQDA may revise and validitate the deposited dataset, and distribute it for research or teaching purposes under the conditions agreed upon below. IQDA may promote and advertise the dataset in any publicity. Where appropriate, and with the agreement of the depositor, IQDA may make named data (itemized in Condition II, below) openly available for publicity purposes.
IQDA takes responsibility for digital storage of the dataset in accordance with data protection and security norms. The archive will ensure that, with the exception of data identified for publicity purposes, the data are distributed for re-use only to persons who have signed appropriate
access agreements, and that the conditions set out in this agreement are complied with.
Conditions stipulated by the depositor
Accessing data
• Normally available to
bona fide researchers
only
• Complete data access
request form and sign
agreement on
conditions of use
• Data transferred
electronically in
encrypted format
Agreement on Conditions of Use
This agreement covers the use of data files and all related material (hereafter “data”) supplied by the Irish Qualitative Data Archive (IQDA). A signed copy of this agreement
must be submitted by all users named on the Data Access Request form. 1. Users of the data
“LEAD USER” is defined as the person who has made an application and been approved to use the data specified in the ‘Data Access Request Form’. “OTHER USER” is a person named as “other user” in the ‘Data Access Request Form’ who has access to the data in addition to the LEAD USER, but under the control of the LEAD USER. LEAD USER and OTHER USERS are collectively defined as the “USERS” and both have responsibilities under this agreement.
2. Purpose of use and disposal of data
USER undertakes to use the data only for the purposes stated in the ‘Data Access Request Form,’ after which the data will be disposed of. If USER wishes to use the data for other research or teaching purposes, USER will send a new access application to the Archive. Use of the data, and/or results obtained from use of the data, for any purpose other than research or teaching is prohibited.
3. Data security
LEAD USER undertakes that no-one but the USERS will have access to the material. LEAD USER shall be responsible for compliance with the terms and conditions of this agreement and for controlling access to the data. One copy of the data may be held centrally on the LEAD USER’s computer systems. Apart from a single copy made by the LEAD USER for the purpose of back-up, no other copy of the data shall be made by any USER. The data may not be copied to local workstations or computers, whether standalone or linked to the LEAD USER’s computer system. Security arrangements on the LEAD USER’s computer facilities will be established to ensure that access to the data stored centrally is limited to those persons who are permitted under this agreement to access the data.
4. Data protection
USER will ensure that while storing or using the data, and publishing information based on it, the confidentiality of individuals and bodies whose details appear in the data are protected. USER will not attempt to identify, or claim to identify, any individuals or participating bodies in a manner that would breach privacy or data protection laws. USER will not attempt to match, or claim to have matched data relating to individuals or participating bodies to any other data. If, in the course of research, USER recognizes, or suspects he/she might recognize a study participant, USER will immediately inform the IQDA staff and USER will not use or retain a copy of that participant’s data. USER will ensure that full compliance with all data protection laws is observed when results obtained from the data are published or presented in a public forum. USER allows IQDA to enter personal data submitted by USER in the
Exploring the IQDA website
• Home page –
www.iqda.ie
• Qualicat
• Accessing data
• Depositing data
• Other features
– Map search
– Anonymisation tool
– Audio samples
