Reply to: Natasha Mauthner and Odette Parry’s “Open access digital data sharing: principles, policies and practices”, Libby Bishop « Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective

gavinbaker's bookmarks 2013-07-22

Summary:

Use the link to access the full text article published by the Social Epistemology Review and Collective.  The article open as follows: "The Introduction ...  In their article, Mauthner and Parry (2012) extend their previous critiques of data reuse by focusing on open access policies.  In this review, I assess their primary argument in light of recent evidence, then reflect critically on several of their secondary points, and close by finding common ground with one of their concluding points ... Main argument ... Mauthner and Parry present a puzzle: a growing number of international, national, journal, and funder policies encourage the sharing of research data, and many researchers support data sharing in principle, yet the actual practice of formal sharing remains limited.  This 'limited compliance' does not, they argue, result from infrastructure problems, but from 'the failure of these policies to recognise data sharing as a relational practice' (62).  That is, researchers have a relational, not objective, relationship with data and it is this epistemological stance, Mauthner and Parry argue, that explains low compliance with institutionalised data sharing policies. The available data do suggest data sharing rates remain low, despite findings that researchers support data sharing.  (For a review of researchers’ attitudes and data sharing policies, see Corti et al. 2013). However, the bulk of evidence calls into question whether the epistemology of a “relational stance” to data is the predominant explanation for low rates of sharing.  There are many recent studies about data sharing practices (not cited by the authors), and these studies suggest factors other than researchers’ attitudes account for limited data sharing (Borgman 2012; Borgman et al. 2012; Fry et al. 2008; Lyon et al. 2010; Open Data Exchange 2011; Piwowar 2011; Tenopir et al. 2011; Wallis et al. 2010; Whyte and Pryor 2011).  I will report findings from one of the studies as an example.  Neither this survey, nor any others, identified a relational stance to data as a primary cause for not sharing data ..."

Link:

http://social-epistemology.com/2013/07/19/reply-to-open-access-digital-data-sharing-principles-policies-and-practices-by-natasha-mauthner-and-odette-parry-libby-bishop/

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Date tagged:

07/22/2013, 07:12

Date published:

07/22/2013, 03:12