Practical Solutions for Sharing Data and Materials From Psychological Research

Abstract

Widespread sharing of data and materials (including displays and text- and video-based descriptions of experimental procedures) will improve the reproducibility of psychological science and accelerate the pace of discovery. In this article, we discuss some of the challenges to open sharing and offer practical solutions for researchers who wish to share more of the products—and process—of their research. Many of these solutions were devised by the Databrary.org data library for storing and sharing video, audio, and other forms of sensitive or personally identifiable data. We also discuss ways in which researchers can make shared data and materials easier for others to find and reuse. Widely adopted, these solutions and practices will increase transparency and speed progress in psychological science.

Advancing Scientific Integrity, Transparency, and Openness in Child Development Research: Challenges and Possible Solutions

“…Perhaps surprisingly, even identifiable data such as photographs, video, or audio recordings or exact birth dates can be shared with participants' (or parents') permission. Asking permission to share is easier when child development researchers adapt template language that others have developed and shared openly (Gilmore, Kennedy, & Adolph, 2018), and when the levels of access to be granted use clear and standard conventions. When data are particularly sensitive, researchers should consider seeking permission to archive data for preservation; what is challenging to share today might not be in the not-too-distant future.…”

“…Seeking permission from participants to share data is increasingly commonplace and sharing materials is becoming standard practice. New sharing platforms like Databrary, developed by developmental researchers with these issues in mind, have created a policy framework for sharing identifiable data like video and audio recordings (Gilmore et al, 2018). The framework includes template permission-to-share language for researchers to record participants' wishes concerning data sharing.…”

Improving Research on the Psychology of Sustainable Consumption: Some Considerations from an Early Career Perspective

“…Although an extensive discussion of data and information sharing practices and debates is beyond the scope of this article, Klein et al (2018) provide a practical introduction, and additional discussions and guides can be found in the invited forum edited by Simons (2018b). Additional suggestions for managing confidentiality and privacy issues through a hierarchy of data release options is also provided by Gilmore, Kennedy, and Adolph (2018).…”

Human-Animal Interaction Research: Progress and Possibilities

“…Indeed, using video to record both training sessions prior to implementing interventions and the interventions themselves could make it possible to implement the intervention at another site with fidelity, allow for the coding of behaviors by raters blind to the intent of the intervention, and provide a resource for secondary data analyses and meta-analyses. A data library, Databrary, partially funded through grants from the NICHD and the National Science Foundation (NSF), has been established to promote the archiving and sharing of video data to improve the reproducibility of studies and accelerate the pace of scientific discoveries across a range of disciplines (Gilmore et al, 2018).…”