Data matters: how earth and environmental scientists determine data relevance and reusability
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/CC-11-2018-0023 |
| Published date | 16 August 2019 |
| Date | 16 August 2019 |
| Pages | 77-86 |
| Subject Matter | Library & information science |
| Author | Angela P. Murillo |
Data matters: how earth and
environmental scientists determine data
relevance and reusability
Angela P. Murillo
School of Informatics and Computing, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this study is to examine the information needs of earth and environmental sci entists regarding how they determine data
reusability and relevance. Additionally, this study provides strategies for the development of data collections and recommendations for data
management and curation for information professionals working alongside researchers.
Design/methodology/approach –This study uses a multi-phase mixed-method approach. The test environment is the DataONE data repository.
Phase 1 includes a qualitative and quantitative content analysis of deposited data. Phase 2 consists of a quasi-experiment think-aloud study. This
paper reports mainly on Phase 2.
Findings –This study identifies earth and environmental scientists’information needs to determine data reusability. The findings include a need for
information regarding research methods, instruments and data descriptions when determining data reusability, as well as a restructuring of data
abstracts. Additional findings include reorganizing of the data record layout and data citation information.
Research limitations/implications –While this study was limited to earth and environmental science data, the findings provide feedback for
scientists in other disciplines, as earth and environmental science is a highly interdisciplinary scientific domain that pulls from many disciplines,
including biology, ecology and geology, and additionally there has been a significant increase in interdisciplinary research in many scientificfields.
Practical implications –The practical implications include concrete feedback to data librarians, data curators and repository managers, as well as
other information professionals as to the information needs of scientists reusing data. The suggestions could be implemented to improve
consultative practices when working alongside scientists regarding data deposition and data creation. These suggestions could improve policies for
data repositories through direct feedback from scientists. These suggestions could be implemented to improve how data repositories are created and
what should be considered mandatory information and secondary information to improve the reusability of data.
Social implications –By examining the information needs of earth and environmental scientists reusing data, this study provides feedb ack that
could change current practices in data deposition, which ultimately could improve the potentiality of data reuse.
Originality/value –While there has been research conducted on data sharing and reuse, this study provides more detailed granularity regarding
what information is needed to determine reusability. This study sets itself apart by not focusing on social motivators and de motivators, but by
focusing on information provided in a data record.
Keywords Data reuse, Research data management, Data sharing, Data curation, Data repositories, Scientific data
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
While much effort has been taken to create data repositories
for sharing and reus e, there has been les s attention to
examining what is necessary for these data to be successfully
reused. Efforts in the creation of data repositories, the
creation of data shar ing policies and to ols to assist with
sharing and reuse ha ve propelled the abi lity for scientis ts to
share and reuse data. Additionally, research to examine
motivations and inh ibitors for data shar ing and reuse have
been well-documented. While this research has been
instrumental in understanding what motivates scientists to
share and reuse data, an under-researched area of study is to
consider what scientists need to know about data sets to
determinereusability as scientisthave a vast amount of available
data to reusefrom the many data repositoriesin existence.
When considering data reusability, it is essential to consider
that “reusabilitycan be only appraised from the potentialreuser
perspective, who will juxtapose best judgment about the
attributes of theavailable data to their reuse intention/purpose”
(Yoon et al.,2017,p. 2). This study considers thatthe potential
reuser is provided a variety of attri butes about a data set from a
data records, and from that data record determines reusability
and relevanceof a data set. Faniel and Jacobsen (2010) describe
three considerations when assessingdata for reusability:
1 Are the data relevant?
2 Can the data be understood?
3 Are the data trustworthy?
Thecurrentissueandfulltextarchiveofthisjournalisavailableon
Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/2514-9326.htm
Collection and Curation
41/3 (2022) 77–86
© Emerald Publishing Limited [ISSN 2514-9326]
[DOI 10.1108/CC-11-2018-0023]
Received 20 November 2018
Revised 8 January 2019
21 February 2019
20 March 2019
Accepted 1 May 2019
77
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