Field Preparations

Date

Tuesday - Monday 01 - 14 December 2020
Expired!

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Preparations

Field Preparations Complete by 14 December

Data Management Overview

Complete these tasks

Incorporate the following details into your final research proposal

The management of research data includes the production, organization, and storage of materials produced through research endeavor, including issues of consent and access. A series of research protocols have been developed to guide you in using best ethical practices, staying within the law, and ensuring output opportunities later. As elaborated below, these include the following issues:

Data production, ownership, and custodianship

As elaborated in the following articles, there are three Key Principles with data management:

  1. Ethnographic data are produced through relational methods, not pre-existing materials waiting to be collected.
  2. Ethnographic data are collaboratively shared with the participants of an ethnographer’s research.
  3. Ethnographic researchers are the custodians of ethnographic data.
Pels, Peter, Igor Boog, J. Henrike Florusbosch, Zane Kripe, Tessa Minter, Metje Postma, Margaret Sleeboom‐Faulkner, et al.
2018
“Data Management in Anthropology: The next Phase in Ethics Governance?” Social Anthropology 26, no. 3 (August 1): 391–413. Link ➙
Dilger, Hansjörg, Peter Pels, and Margaret Sleeboom-Faulkner
2019
“Guidelines for Data Management and Scientific Integrity in Ethnography,” Ethnography, vol. 20, issue 1. Link ➙

Leiden University Regulations

The following aspects at least must be covered in the DMP for a research project:

  1. How data-management responsibilities are assigned within the project and what will happen if the researcher, or one of the researchers, leaves;
  2. The types of data that will be generated and collected (with format and scope);
  3. The collection method(s) or origin of the data (including hardware and software);
  4. The standards and metadata for the documentation of the data (discipline-focused and/or in line with standards set by the repository where the data is preserved);
  5. Where the data will be preserved during the research and how security and access will be arranged;
  6. The measures that will be taken for the long-time preservation of and access to the data;
  7. Who will have access to the data at which point;
  8. How sensitive or otherwise confidential data is dealt with.

Here are some model answers:

  1. The student researcher will be responsible for managing the data, but if unable to continue will either destroy the data or relinquish it to the supervisor.
  2. The primary data types: video and audio files, which will be documented in a spreadsheet loglist and processed in video editing software; hand drawings, typed and hand written notes.
  3. Data will be produced using digital audio and video recording devices, word processing text entry, and entries into paper journals.
  4. Loglists will include both quantitative metadata produced during recording as (duration, date recorded, etc) as well as qualitative entries about content and formal aspects.
  5. The data will be kept secure eatery with the researcher during use or in a locked facility.
  6. The data will be archived digitally and securely stored in the student’s possession.
  7. Only the student will have access to all unedited data. Research participants will be given access to personal data. Supervisors and classmates will have access to edited materials.
  8. All sensitive and confidential digital data will be secured on a password protected hard drive and kept in a locked facility (student’s home).

General Data Protection Regulation

Whereas the collection of data is regulated by anthropological ethical protocols of informed consent, the GDPR law is primarily concerned with how to handle the data once produced. As such, it focuses on three main components:

  • Anonymity: The GDPR law is intended to protect one’s identity.
    • In a data gathering scenario, legal protocols require the anonymization of identifiable data (e.g., legal names or other personal data) for it to be freely shared unless these data are necessary for research purposes.
    • Since voices and images are considered identifiable data, all audio-video recordings and photographs are considered NON-anonymous by default, and thus require informed consent documented with a written signature or audio/video recorded in order to be shared.
  • Restricted Sharing: The GDPR law is mainly concerned with preventing the sharing of non-anonymized data with unauthorized persons.
    • This permits students to share their data with their research team and supervisors as authorized persons. 
    • Documented informed consent is a prerequisite for the dissemination of non-anonymized data in films, photos, and/or audio that could be seen via film festivals, film distribution, online streaming, gallery installations, library repositories, etc.
    • If documenting informed consent is not possible, explain why it is impossible. Serving a public interest is a possible reason for sharing without informed consent.
  • Secure Storage: The GDPR law requires precautions be taken against inadvertent or accidental spreading/sharing through unsafe data storage practices. 
    • Storage of hand written notes and other paper files should be stored behind lock and key (in a locked room/house or file cabinet/box) when not in use (and carefully handled when in use).
    • Digital data should be stored on password protected hard drives or devices.
    • SURF Drive provides secure server storage for university researchers.
    • Data stored on commercial servers like googledocs, Dropbox, or other cloud services should be encrypted.

Informed Consent

“Anthropological researchers working with living human communities must obtain the voluntary and informed consent of research participants. … Minimally, informed consent includes sharing with potential participants the research goals, methods, funding sources or sponsors, expected outcomes, anticipated impacts of the research, and the rights and responsibilities of research participants. It must also include establishing expectations regarding anonymity and credit. Researchers must present to research participants the possible impacts of participation, and make clear that despite their best efforts, confidentiality may be compromised or outcomes may differ from those anticipated. These expectations apply to all field data, regardless of medium. Visual media in particular, because of their nature, must be carefully used, referenced, and contextualized.” (Section 3. Obtain Informed Consent and Necessary Permissions, Principles of Professional Responsibility, American Anthropological Association, 2012)

Media Release

Written informed consent forms can be combined with media releases. These should include the following information about the research project:

  • the topic/goal of the research project
  • how the materials will be stored
  • for how long and for which purposes the materials will be used
  • any possible risks there might be (e.g., loss of privacy)
  • whether consent can be revoked once it has been given

Here is a sample text:

As part of the “TITLE” research project conducted by “NAME researcher”, a student of Leiden University, I will make photographic, audio, and/or video recordings of you while you participate in the research. 

Please indicate below by initialing what uses of these records you consent to. This is completely up to you. We will only use the records in the way(s) that you agree to.

__Photo __Audio __Video: The records can be studied by the research team for use in the research project.

__Photo __Audio __Video: The records can be used for research publications.

__Photo __Audio __Video: The records can be shown at meetings of research interested in the study of anthropology.

__Photo __Audio __Video: The records can be shown in classrooms to students.

__Photo __Audio __Video: The records can be shown in public presentations to non-scientific groups.

__Photo __Audio __Video: The records can be used on internet, television and radio.

__Photo __Audio __Video: The records can be transferred digitally using internet sharing software to the student’s supervisor.

Media Release Form template ⬇︎

Backing up, Organizing, & Logging Data

Once you’ve secured your permissions, determined secure storage protocols, and begun to generate data, then you’ll need to begin to organize it all in ways that will be effective for editing and analysis.

Every time you transfer new material from your SD cards to your hard drive, duplicate the same files to (preferably) two other hard drives for secure back ups. Ensure that you keep the exact same folder structure and naming system on each of the hard drives.

As you begin to amass materials, you will need to need to keep track of your inventory. More than a simple list of contents, a loglist of all your footage, photos, and other recordings as well as generating transcripts of interviews and other oral sources will be essential tools for analyzing your data. We recommend you create a loglist that hyperlinks to your actual footage. This is why you must maintain the same naming and structure on all hard drives. In case one becomes inaccessible, you can simply switch to another.

Students should transition out of active field research and into office organizing mode during the week of 15 March. Take this week to transition from data gathering to data analysis. This means carefully reviewing your materials so you have a representative, if not comprehensive, understanding of what is in your data collection.

The main output from this week should be the Loglist Pre-selections. By combining detailed qualitative notes with standardized metadata embedded in each piece of digital media, you gain a powerful tool of analysis that lets you track patterns and optimize access through search terms. The more time you put into organizing your materials, the easier and more effective you’ll be through the editing phase. Loglists will be extensively engaged during the Organizing, Editing, and Analysis workshop beginning 22 March.

Refer to the following resources to create your own loglist

Follow Rosanne van den Berg as she explains the process step by step ➙

Creating a loglist ⬇︎

Loglist Template ⬇︎

Laura Ogden presents her system for Organising Fieldwork Footage ⬇︎