Evaluating QualiCO: an ontology to facilitate qualitative methods sharing to support open science

Abstract

Qualitative science methods have largely been omitted from discussions of open science. Platforms focused on qualitative science that support open science data and method sharing are rare. Sharing and exchanging coding schemas has great potential for supporting traceability in qualitative research as well as for facilitating the reuse of coding schemas. In this study, we present and evaluate QualiCO, an ontology to describe qualitative coding schemas. Twenty qualitative researchers used QualiCO to complete two coding tasks. In our findings, we present task performance and interview data that focus participants’ attention on the ontology. Participants used QualiCO to complete the coding tasks, decreasing time on task, while improving accuracy, signifying that QualiCO enabled the reuse of qualitative coding schemas. Our discussion elaborates some issues that participants had and highlights how conceptual and prior practice frames their interpretation of how QualiCO can be used.

Qualitative research at the crossroads of open science and big data: Ethical considerations

“…However, most discussions focus on ethics relevant to quantitative, lab‐based experimental approaches, and computational code sharing. Some discussions of ethics related to transparency, openness, data sharing, and reproducibility beyond quantitative approaches have emerged and initiated critical conversations about open science for other research traditions (e.g., Ananny & Crawford, 2018; Class et al., 2021; Hocker et al., 2021; Makel et al., 2022; Steltenpohl et al., 2021; Steltenpohl et al., 2023). Yet, further detail on how to ethically and effectively integrate these changes into current policies, systems, and individual practices is needed.…”