Qualitative research data

What is qualitative research data?

Qualitative research data is research data obtained using qualitative research methods. It may have been produced through research (e.g., interview transcripts) or collected during the research process (e.g., outputs from the field of research, social media profiles). Qualitative research data includes:

Text data (e.g., transcripts)
Audio data (e.g., interview recordings)
Visual data (e.g., photographs)
Audiovisual data (e.g., videos)
Multimodal data (e.g., social media profiles)

From a methodological perspective, alternative classifications could also be proposed. For instance, regarding the extent to which a particular research perspective is embedded in the data material (degree of openness) or to which researchers themselves become visible in the research data (the production of research data as a social practice/co-construction). These questions are important for decisions regarding data preparation and reuse.

Why is research data management for qualitative data particularly challenging?

Research data management for qualitative data is particularly demanding, as such data often contains sensitive information that is difficult to anonymise and is available in a wide variety of formats. Furthermore, ensuring its reusability requires detailed documentation and contextualisation, as well as the clarification of legal and research ethics issues. As a result, the management of qualitative research data can only be standardised to a limited extent and always requires case-by-case decisions.

What services do we offer?

The processing and documentation of qualitative research data requires particular care and preparation. We therefore offer project-specific advice on all aspects of research data management. We support you

in drawing up informed consent forms
in documenting the data and the research process
in decisions relevant to research ethics and data protection law (e.g., regarding the possibilities for data sharing)
in developing a sustainable anonymisation strategy
in finding a suitable subject-specific repository or research data centre

We can develop bespoke workshops for you on request, tailored closely to your specific questions and challenges. Please feel free to contact us.

QualiBi – Data from qualitative educational research

We make qualitative educational research data available for academic reuse through the QualiBi research data platform. In addition to subject-specific indexing, we also enable the provision of sensitive research data based on a differentiated access management system. We would be happy to advise you personally.