… While data sharing, research transparency, and replication have customarily been prominent concerns for quantitative researchers, they are increasingly being seen as relevant for the qualitative tradition. Proponents of openness argue that it strengthens and improves all social science. It allows for the careful assessment of evidence-based claims. Further, secondary analysis can only occur when data are shared, enabling research that might otherwise not be possible, as well as avoiding redundant and costly data generation. Finally, teaching approaches that use active learning in combination with applications drawn from the real world are only feasible when scholars share their data.
The Qualitative Data Repository (QDR), which recently came online at Syracuse University, is consistent with this position. QDR aims to provide an approachable venue for storing and sharing digital data generated through qualitative and multi-method research in the social sciences. It is hosted by the Center for Qualitative and Multi-Method Inquiry (a unit of Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs), and funded by the National Science Foundation. CONT.
Colin Elman (Syracuse) & Diana Kapiszewski (Georgetown), The Monkey Cage