There is a growing interest in archiving research data and sharing it for secondary use. To date, in the field of higher education and science studies, the main types of data available for secondary use are standardized survey data and to some extent, data from semi-structured interviews. However, the research field offers diverse research data, which can be classified into different data types. In addition, the latest technological developments are generating new types of research data (e.g., big data).
Previous experience regarding requirements of the archiving and secondary use of data from standardized surveys and semi-structured interviews is only partly applicable to other data types, due to the specific features of each type (in relation to data generation, structuredness, and data format).
In the context of the project presented here (funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, BMBF), the DZHW’s Research and Data Centre (FDZ-DZHW) will examine the archiving and secondary use of various data types in the field of higher education and science research. The FDZ plans to conduct expert interviews and an online survey in order to examine the scientific community’s view of the motives, opportunities and limits that favour or stand against the archiving and secondary use of different data types and what requirements are placed on this archiving and secondary use. The research findings will be published, and in addition, a report on the archiving and secondary use of various data types will be prepared in particular for research funding providers, the scientific community and research data centres. The project also intends to expand the DZHW’s FDZ research data infrastructure for one additional data type, as an example of what is possible.
