Abstract
This chapter has developed from discussion of and practical experience in the re-use of archived qualitative data. As an oral historian I am fortunate that the research methodology I adopt means that I cross over the disciplinary boundaries between history and sociology, engaging with researchers who often work in parallel and quite separately, exploring and developing approaches to the same problems but coming from different directions. This can lead to fascinating and stimulating learning opportunities as well as much debate. Re-use, or as it is also known, secondary analysis, is a well-known approach amongst researchers who work with large data sets of quantitative data. However, until fairly recently data sharing had not been identified or much adopted amongst qualitative social science researchers or oral historians. It has been carried out even less frequently by development researchers due to additional concerns relating to interest, time, quality, and translation. In what follows I will be exploring where resistance to data sharing lies, how methods of data sharing have subsequently developed, and what the outcomes have been for research practice. In particular I will discuss the nature of re-used data and their epistemological status, and will consider some ethical issues arising from the use of archived data. I will be drawing on experience from being a part of the Timescapes Programme1 which sought, as one of its central features, to embed re-use in its activity as an ongoing generator of research data and as a repository of data to be shared and re-used by others (Neale et al., 2012).
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© 2014 Joanna Bornat
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Bornat, J. (2014). Epistemology and Ethics in Data Sharing and Analysis: A Critical Overview. In: Camfield, L. (eds) Methodological Challenges and New Approaches to Research in International Development. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137293626_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137293626_10
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