43 Actions to Overcome Eight Barriers to Qualitative Data Sharing

Abstract

We present the preliminary findings of a scoping study on the actions a researcher can take to overcome common barriers to sharing interview transcripts.

In preparing our own transcripts for deposit, we struggled to identify guidance addressing the practical issues we were facing at a detailed enough level to be helpful to us. As we searched through the extensive literature on the subject, we reasoned that it may be beneficial for other researchers to have access to the results of this exercise.

We therefore began a formal scoping review, focusing specifically on the practical steps that researchers can take towards opening their transcripts. From the extracted concerns, we constructed eight themes: confidentiality, consent, misappropriation of data, context, copyright, IRB approval, researcher distress and time and money. We have presented the preliminary findings in the form of a table based ‘tool’, organised via these themes, which we used to develop our own data management plan. This talk gives an overview of this tool, with the hope that it will save time for people who, like us, are new to the practice of open qualitative data.