Use and reusing the data

 

Introduction

Open Science as well as research data management, plays a role in facilitating the use and reuse of the data. Use and reuse of the data is one of the important roles of research data management. Well-advanced research data enables the researchers to use and reuse research data in other research projects. This involves enabling the researchers to access and reuse data sets and interviews for other research projects. According to data, repositories are created to house research data. 

Benefits of the use and reuse of research data

The use and reuse of research data offer various benefits. Firstly, it enables the researchers to save costs. Conducting the research requires a lot of costs involved in the collection of the data. The researchers need to meet costs such as transportation, communications, data transcription, data entry and other costs. Reusing the data from repositories may play a role in ensuring that the researchers conduct the study with less effort as well as costs.

The second benefit of the reuse of the research data lies in its ability to minimise duplication efforts. The researchers with similar research goals may be able to access the datasets and analyse the already available data to address the research questions. This minimises the instances in which the researcher would collect similar data that is already available. 

Challenges to reuse and use of research data

Evidence across the literature has highlighted various challenges hindering the use and reuse of the research data.  The first challenge is the missing or incomplete data (Late & Ochsner, 2024). The missing and incomplete data affect the researchers from making use of data, as it affects the quality of the research outcomes. The second challenge is resistance to sharing the research data. Evidence has shown that most researchers resist sharing the research data, hindering o other researchers from using and reusing the data (Salazar, 2023; Borghi & Gulick). The use of research data further faces limitations due to technological challenges (Late & Ochsner, 2024). Researchers may fail to access the data due to poor internet connectivity, hindering access to data repositories.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the use and reuse of the research data is a significant component in research data management. Data reuse minimised duplication efforts as well as saving costs. Some challenges hindering the use and reuse of the data include missing or incomplete data, unwillingness of the researchers to share data, and technological challenges.

 

References

Borghi, J., & Van Gulick, A. (2022). Promoting open science through research data management. Harvard Data Science Review, 4(3), 1-10

Late, E., & Ochsner, M. (2024). Re-use of research data in the social sciences. Use and users of digital data archive. Plos one, 19(5), e0303190

Salazar, A., Wentzel, B., Schimmler, S., Gläser, R., Hanf, S., & Schunk, S. A. (2023). How research data management plans can help in harmonizing open science and approaches in the digital economy. Chemistry–A European Journal, 29(9), e202202720

Tenopir, C., Rice, N. M., Allard, S., Baird, L., Borycz, J., Christian, L., ... & Sandusky, R. J. (2020). Data sharing, management, use, and reuse: Practices and perceptions of scientists worldwide. PloS one, 15(3), e0229003.