Research Data Management

In current debates on research data management, national and international funding bodies are calling on all disciplines to permanently store research data and make it available for further use. The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation, DFG) already established general guidelines for this purpose in 2015 and called on disciplines and professional societies to reflect on the handling of research data and to establish suitable standards.

Against this backdrop on 01-10-2019 the GAA General Meeting passed a position paper which intends to support researchers and teachers of social and cultural anthropology in dealing with the requirements for archiving, storing and distributing research data and materials. The GAA also expects funding bodies to consider these positions when awarding grants and reviewing project reports.

Helpful for an overview of the topics of research data management is the openly accessible platform DATA AFFAIRS. The platform supports the systematic handling of empirical, especially qualitative, research data, but also aims to encourage a (critical) discussion of the demands of Open Science. Topics such as the concept of data in ethnographic research, recording strategies, data protection and data security, anonymisation, informed consent, the creation of data management plans and the preparation of data for digital archiving and possible subsequent use are explained. Practical examples invite interactive self-study. The platform was developed in the DFG-funded CRC 1171 “Affective Societies” at Freie Universität Berlin.