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Sharing Research Data (1985)

Chapter: Sharing Research Data in the Social Sciences

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Suggested Citation:"Sharing Research Data in the Social Sciences." National Research Council. 1985. Sharing Research Data. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2033.
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Suggested Citation:"Sharing Research Data in the Social Sciences." National Research Council. 1985. Sharing Research Data. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/2033.
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Sharing Research Data in the Social Sciences Jerome M. Clubb, Enk W. Austin, Carolyn L. Geda, and Michael W. Traugott Dunng the past two decades an extensive literature has appeared exploring issues related to access to basic computer-readable data for empirical social science research. In the main, the authors of this literature emphasize the scientific, public policy, and pedagogical values and advantages of data shar- ~ng, and they often advocate a policy of open access to data in maximally us- able form. Obstacles to data sharing are discussed, specific categories of data are noted as exceptions to the general sharing Nile, arguments against com- plete open access to research data are sometimes offered, and the precise na- ture of obligations to share data are debated, but few if any of the authors cate- Jerome M. Clubb, Erik W. Austin, Carolyn L. Geda, and Michael W. Traugott are at the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, Center for Political Studies, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan. An earlier draft of this paper was discussed at length by Stephen Fienberg, Clifford Hildreth, Margaret Martin, Miron Straf, Joe Cecil, and Terry Hedrick. Although we were unable to meet all of their many comments and suggestions, this paper has benefitted greatly from their efforts. We alone, however, are responsible for its shortcomings. 39

40 Jerome M. Clubb et al. goncally oppose data sharing or some form of open access. These same two decades have been marked by movement among social scientists toward implementation of the general principle of open access to ba- sic research data. Institutional mechanisms have appeared to facilitate access to data, and venous agencies that fund research in the social sciences have stressed that the resultant data collections should be made available to other researchers. One consequence of these developments is that abundant, if somewhat unsystematic, concrete evidence of the value of open access to ba- sic research data is now available. At the same time, however, discussion and disagreement continue, and ac- ceptance and implementation of the general principle of data sharing are far from complete. Social scientists are still often refused access to data, or if ac- cess is granted, copies of data are sometimes received in technically unusable form. In some cases data are shared, but only after prolonged delay. In oth- er cases data are shared only within relatively limited networks of researchers, often within a single discipline or subdiscipline. Access to data by people outside such networks is either difficult or precluded. Difficulties in gaining access to data are not simply the product of unwillingness of researchers and research groups to share, but also result because mechanisms to provide infor- mation about the availability of data, and particularly mechanisms that oper- ate across disciplinary boundaries, are not yet well developed. It is only in very recent years, for example, that concerted efforts to develop bibliographic control over computer-readable data collections have begun, and there is as yet no centralized reference service for computer-readable social science data. Failure to move more rapidly toward acceptance and implementation of the principle of open access to basic data is sometimes asserted to be a reflection of the supposed transitional nature of the social sciences—from essentially lit- erary values, with their emphasis upon private and unique individual creativi- ty, to the scientific values of public and cooperative pursuit of cumulative knowledge. In our view such an explanation is neither particularly useful nor accurate. If it were accurate, other areas of inquiry would also have to be seen as transitional in nature, since difficulties and disagreements concerning access to data and to data collection facilities are also encountered in other sciences. In our reading much more obvious and, in some respects, more useful explanations are also available. First, there are serious concrete tech- nical obstacles to effective data sharing, although at least some of them could be readily overcome. Second, there are reasonable arguments against a gen- eralized norm of data shanug and against complete open access to research da- ta, arguments that reflect conflicting values and goals as well as the reward structure characteristic of science. These issues constitute the most serious obstacles to data sharing. In this paper we examine the issues confronted in sharing basic social

Sharing Data in the Social Sciences 41 science data. The initial section summarizes scientific and other values and advantages gained through open access to data. The second section provides an indication of the magnitude of data sharing that now occurs. The third sec- tion considers technical obstacles to generalized access to basic data in usable form and suggests means by which some of these obstacles might be over- come. The fourth section considers further arguments against data sharing and the conflicting values, goals, and obligations that seem open to underlie disagreement and discussions of data sharing; for these, solutions that go sig- nif~cantly beyond continued exhortation are less easily identified. The fifth section considers modes and facilities for data sharing, and the sixth section briefly considers practices of data sharing in several other areas of inquiry. We offer conclusions and recommendations in the final section. This paper has a number of limitations that should be made explicit. Data-sharing practices vary rather widely in the social sciences, and it is un- likely that the full range of this variation has been adequately taken into ac- count. While data-sharing practices in several rather specific areas of the na- tural and biomedical sciences are examined, this examination is somewhat un- systematic and far less than complete. To explore in anything approaching comprehensive fashion questions of data sharing and access to data collection facilities in the many and diverse areas of the other sciences would be a major research undertaking in its own right. Thus we are able to offer here only a few highly tentative generalizations. There are a very large number of organizations and facilities in the academ- ic, government, and private sectors that function in some way to share and provide access to computer-readable data relevant to social science research. Our discussion of these facilities is most complete for academically based or- ganizations; it is significantly less complete in the case of organizations in The public and private sectors. Our discussion of data-sharing practices and facil- ities is also heavily based on the United States; practices, facilities, and ex- periences in other nations are less to computer-readable data collected and processed more or less specifically to serve the goals of social science re- search and the purposes of monitoring social processes. We distinguish be- tween computer-readable data for research and computer-readable information of the sort found in data bases containing bibliographic citations and abstracts of published textual material. The latter are shared through many mechanisms and are outside the scope of this paper. There are similar questions regarding access to other categories of research source material, such as oral histories, and it is likely that somewhat similar principles and im- peratives would apply to these other categories of source material as apply to computer-readable data for social science research. The personal papers of statesmen, political, government, and other public figures constitute primary source materials for the research of historians and other social scientists as

42 Jerome M. Clubb et al. well as of scholars of literature and the arts, and access to such materials is of- ten restricted and is at best uneven. However, the issues confronted in deal- ing with such materials are complex, controversial, and widely debated, and we have been forced to rule them outside the scope of the present paper. The operational records of government agencies and other organizations are also not considered in this paper. These records constitute research resources of very considerable value for investigation of social processes, and they are also of central importance for purposes of policy and performance evaluation and public accountability. Such records, moreover, are increasingly main- tained in computer-readable form so that transactions and activities are docu- mented in greater detail than formerly, and the records can also be manipu- lated for analytic purposes. However, these records fall within the purview of governmental, business, and other organizational archives that are today largely ill-equipped to manage them in their computer-readable form or to make them available for scientific use. A recent collection of essays (Geda et al., 1980) provides a useful summary of the issues and problems presented by these materials and calls attention to the risk of loss of major research oppor- tunities. These issues and problems are not reviewed in the present paper. VALUES AND ADVANTAGES OF DATA SHARING Beginning in the early 1960s, numerous books and articles have appeared that discussed the values and advantages to be gained through open access to basic social scientific data and that explore means for providing this access. Much of the early literature emphasized the impact of change in the technology of social science research. It was recognized that the social sciences were un- dergoing the introduction of complex technologies analogous in some ways to the costly instrumentation of the natural sciences. The consequences of this new technology were seen as providing abundant research opportunities, but these opportunities were also seen as accompanied by need for change in work practices and uneven access among social scientists to research resources and as interposing new obstacles to effective research. The advent of computer technology and its application to social science re- search meant Hat researchers had the capacity to manipulate large data collec- tions and to use complex methods of analysis in ways Hat previously had been virtually precluded. At the same time, however, researchers faced high costs for data collection arid for processing data to computer-readable form, uneven access to computational facilities and capabilities among social scientists, and the possibility and value of multiple uses of data collections. Hence the early literature emphasized need for mechanisms that would facilitate generalized access to data and to computational capabilities required for their use.

Sharing Data in the Social Sciences 43 It also became increasingly clear that standard publishing mechanisms of- fered few effective solutions to the problems of access to research data: the size of research data collections, and the attendant high costs of publishing ba- sic data, precluded this option. Furthermore, publication of scientific re- search data that already exist in computer-readable form was seen to add an unnecessary and expensive loop to the process of data sharing: to be used ef- fectively in research applications, such published data must be reconverted to computer-readable form by each and every analyst who wishes to use them in research. Finally, in more recent years numerous observers have noted that the publishing of research results falls far short of satisfying goals represented by the term "data sharing." Few if any professional journals or monographs permit or encourage the depth of exposition of research data and methods that underlie reported research findings; it is therefore rarely the case that pu- blished research reports satisfy a reader seeking to evaluate the basic data and techniques used in a research investigation. Increased use of sample surveys as a primary mode of data collection con- stituted a furler impetus to data sharing. By the 1960s, numerous collec- tions of sample survey data existed, some of them dating to the mid-1930s, and the survey method of data collection had attained highly sophisticated form. It was clear, however, that mounting a large-scale sample survey was beyond the financial reach of most social scientists and, consequently, many researchers were increasingly disadvantaged. Again, the possibility of multi- ple research applications and the cumulative values of data from well- designed sample surveys was stressed. To realize new research opportunities and to capitalize on new technology required creation of new data facilities. These facilities were viewed, in some cases, as functioning analogously to the laboratories and the research in- stallations of the physical sciences. They would provide mechanisms to implement the obligations of original data collectors to share their data with other researchers. They would devise and implement standards for data col- lection and processing, contribute to the development of general-purpose computational capabilities, and provide training in new approaches to social science research. Some of these same themes continue to underlie much of the literature since the 1960s. (A partial list of the earlier and subsequent literature is provided in the references and bibliography section.) Like the earlier literature, subse- quent contributions to this general discussion explore a variety of more specif- ic advantages and values of generalized access to basic computer-readable so- cial scientific data. In view of this large body of literature, we need only briefly summarize those values and advantages here.

44 Jerome M. Clubb et al. Replication and Verification Improved capacity to verify and replicate reported research findings is among the most commonly discussed advantage of generalized access to data. Obviously, use of computers and computer-readable data and increased use of large bodies of data that are costly to collect increase the complexity of venfi- cation and replication as compared with more traditional data sources and re- search methods. The costs of a major survey are large, and repetition of the survey for purposes of replication and verification of an original effort is usually precluded. Thus replication and verification can often be accom- plished only through access to the data from the original survey. In addition, many of the phenomena studied by social scientists are in some senses nonre- curnng. National elections are, of course, repetitive, but the specific con- texts and characteristics of elections van. As a consequence, findings based on data collected for one election often cannot be verified and replicated with data collected for a subsequent election. Hence, the values of verification and replication can often be served by access to the original data. The need for simple verification of research findings is frequently mini- rnized since fraudulent research reports are thought to be rare. The risks of datacollection or analysis errors are greater, and erroneous findings due to such errors are probably more common. However, there are also occasional reports of fraudulent research, some of them with continuing and even dire consequences. For these reasons the opportunity for verification using ori- ginal data is often seen as a vital element of the research process and as dictat- ing generalized access to data. Access to basic data is often seen as facilitating three somewhat different forms of replication of reported findings. One of these might be described as "exact" replication. In this case the same data and methods are used to deter- mine whether He same results are obtained. The second form replicates and tests reported findings using the same data but different analytic methods or assumptions. Both of these are obviously forms of verification and are some- times seen as particularly important when data and research bear directly on current social policy concerns. The third form of replication looks toward testing the generality of reported findings. In tills case data from different contexts national or temporal, for example are used to discover the condi- tions under which particular relations do or do not apply and, hence, to gener- alize research hmdings. Methodological Improvement Further values served by open access to basic data are improvement of mea- surement and data collection methods. In this view, the obligation to share data with other researchers subjects data and data collection methods metho-

Sharing Data in the Social Sciences 45 dological improvement is encouraged. In somewhat similar fashion, the availability of extended collections of data is seen as holding benefits for the design of new data collection efforts: in opportunities for exploratory research to determine in differing contexts the adequacy of question wordings, unob- trusive scales, and indicators, leading to improved measures and measure- ment validation. Secondary Analysis The value of data collections for extended, or secondary, analysis is, of course, frequently discussed. The research potential of a welldesigned data collection is rarely exhausted by the original data collector, and data collec- tions usually have value beyond those for which they were originally de- signed. Thus data collections generally have multiple research applications. Moreover, the availability of extended collections of data provide a basis for realization of further values: in the possibilities of combining data, derived measures, or analytic results from diverse collections in order to address new research questions and in the comparative and longitudinal perspectives pro- vided by the availability of data collected at different times and in different places. Realization of the latter values, it should be noted, not only dictates that data be shared, but also that data be preserved and remain accessible for extended periods of time. Further values of data sharing for research are economic in nature and fol- low from opportunities for secondary analysis. Generalized use of data is be- lieved to reduce research costs. The ready availability of data means that re- searchers often do not need to collect data de novo but can pursue research interests and goals by drawing on existing data. In this way, duplication of data collection efforts and investments are reduced, and the research value of investments in data collection are more fully realized. Opportunities to carry out meaningful research are, in effect, democratized, and more social scien- tists are able to conduct research and contribute to the development of knowledge. ~ Generalized access to basic research data in readily usable form is also seen as serving a variety of additional values, including pedagogical ones. Original data are now frequently used in both substantive and methodological instruction at the graduate and undergraduate levels as well as, occasionally, at the secondary school level. Probably the best-known and most widely used examples of instructional applications of this sort are the SETUPS (Supplementary Empirical Teaching Units for Political Science) series deve- loped collaboratively by We American Political Science Association and the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. Twenty-one of these units have been prepared and more are now being

46 Jerome M. Clubb et al. developed or are planned. Each unit includes a brief monograph that poses a substantive or methodological problem or set of problems and a specially tai- lored data file to address that problem. By using original data in this fashion, students are able to more directly experience the research process and come to better understand the empirical bases and the contingent nature of research findings. In a more general sense, instructional use of empirical data im- proves social scientific and numeric literacy and enhances students' critical capacity to evaluate the results of applications of social science methods, whether reported in scholarly publications or in the mass media. Ready access to data is also seen as holding values for public policy pur- poses. The availability of data facilitates and encourages use of empirical data in policy formation and evaluation and so improves policy. Ready ac- cess to data also means, in this view, a capacity to more rapidly address policy questions. Numerous illustrations of the values summarized above could be cited. Three somewhat diverse illustrations are touched upon here. One example is provided through research by James S. Coleman and his colleagues ( 1966) on the equality of educational opportunity. The second is taken from a quite different area of inquiry: research into the economic history of the antebellum Soup and the economics of slavery, carried out by Robert W. Fogel and Stanley L. Engerman and reported in Time on the Cross (1974~. In bow cases, the reported research engendered widespread debate and controversy, sometimes acrimonious, among both scholars involved in the areas of inquiry and others. However, because the original data on which the research was based were generally available, scholarly debate could often be conducted on empirical rather than purely speculative grounds.2 The underlying data could be explored and evaluated and the findings empirically tested and contested. The consequence in both cases was ~at, despite controversy, debate was of a higher order and more effectively conducted; weaknesses of original data col- lection and research were better identified, and new and potentially rewarding areas for furler research found. A third illustration is of a still different order and is provided by the American National Election Studies, which are directed by Warren E. Miller. These surveys have been conducted by He Survey Research Center and the Center for Political Studies of the Institute for Social Research (located at the University of Michigan) for each national election since 1952. Data from the surveys provide an incomparable resource for cross-sectional and longitudinal investigation of the formation and durability of political attitudes and of American political processes. In more recent years, moreover, similar studies stimulated in part by these studies—have been conducted in many other nations, including Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, He

Sharing Data in the Social Sciences 47 United Kingdom, and West Germany. In some of these nations, their series now span well over two decades. The venous studies show marked similarity in theoretical foci, in the structure of questions and measures, and in other de- sign characteristics. Thus, taken collectively, the data from these surveys constitute a powerful resource for both longitudinal inquiry and cross-national comparison, and they also exemplify the advantages, for purposes of design- ing new data collection efforts, of general availability of data collections. Distinctions and Reservations While the values summarized above are recognized and stressed, discussions of data sharing also draw distinctions, both explicitly and implicitly, between different categories of data in terms of the importance of sharing and the obli- gations of researchers to provide access. Data collections that threaten priva- cy or place individuals or organizations "at risk" are usually seen as requiring special treatment, although such concerns were less frequently expressed in the earlier literature than they are now, and distinctions are also made in the case of proprietary data collected for the purposes of private enterprise. Issues of privacy and confidentiality and questions of proprietary data are dis- cussed in a subsequent section; here we are concerned with distinctions that center on such issues as the presumed intrinsic importance of data collections, the purposes they were designed to serve, and He relative ease with which particular categories of data collections can be replicated. Distinctions are often drawn between large-scale data collections, particu- larly sample survey data collected at public expense, and smaller bodies of data collected at personal expense. There is widespread agreement that the former category of data should be shared and made generally available in a timely fashion, although there is less agreement as to what constitutes "timely." Sharing smaller data collections, particularly those created at indi- vidual expense, is often seen as less important, and obligations to provide ac- cess to such data are considered less pressing. These distinctions seem to be based on the presumed lesser value of smaller data collections for the purposes of secondary analysis, the sources of financial support for data collection, and the greater ease and lower cost at which smaller data collections can be dupli- cated. A similar distinction is sometimes also made for data collected from published or other public record sources. The presumption seems to be that because the original data can be found in published or otherwise publicly available sources, they can also be collected and processed by the secondary user; consequently, sharing is less obligatory or useful. Further and more specific distinctions are also sometimes made in terms of the purposes data collections are intended to serve and their potential for af- fecting government, public affairs, and human life. Hedrick et al. (1978)

48 Jerome M. Clubb et al. suggest, for example, the importance of general and immediate access to data collected for purposes of formulating and evaluating public policy. And their views might be extended to include other categories of data for applied social science research. Such data are designed to provide a basis for social pro- grarn and policy decisions, and their potential for directly affecting people's lives is great. Thus in this view there is greater need for rapid evaluation of data and for replication of analytic findings than in the case of data designed to serve the purposes of more basic social science research. Distinctions such as these may be useful and even necessary in pragmatic terms. Obviously, it would not be realistic to envision sharing and open ac- cess to all data collected by social scientists. However, distinctions of this sort may be difficult to implement in practice, and they may appear in conflict win the values and advantages summarized above. It is, after all, difficult to anticipate the potential secondary research applications of data collections whatever their size, focus, or content. Even data from the most limited case study, for example, can sometimes be combined with other data to provide a basis for more extended explorations. The view that data collected from pub- lic sources and processed to computer-readable form can be readily duplicated is at best only partly correct. Such data collection efforts usually involve large investments of time and energy, and to duplicate them is obviously wasteful. Of greater importance, data collections of this sort often draw on multiple sources, some of which may not be easily accessible, and often use complex derived measures and aggregations. Given the imperfections of the mechanics of citation, it is frequently impossible to completely identify pre- cise sources and methods and to reconstruct derived measures and indexes. Hence duplication of such data collections and replication and verification of reported findings are often difficult if not impossible. The recent controversy centering upon research reported by Martin S. Feldstein that shows social security as a disincentive to saving is a case in point (Feldstein, 1974, 1980; Leimer and Lesnoy, 1980~. In this instance, Me original sources from which the data were obtained were not as easily identified or available to others as was apparently assumed, and complex derived indexes could not be readily reconstructed. Because the data were not shared, He process of replicating and verifying the reported findings was slowed, a programming error Hat marred the original analysis was not more promptly discovered, and effective debate and evaluation of the findings were delayed. It is likely that few people would contest the importance of early and gener- al access to data explicitly designed to provide a basis for policy formation or evaluation or for social action. However, to argue that access to data for more basic research is of lesser importance presents difficulties. It is worth noting that Isaac Ehrlich's research on the deterrent effects of capital punish-

Sharing Data in the Social Sciences 49 meet, one of the controversial recent examples of contestable research with immediate policy consequences (Ehrlich, 1975; Bowers and Pierce, 1975; Passell and Taylor, 1975) was apparently not commissioned to provide a basis for policy decisions. The capacity to predict that particular research will or will not have policy consequences is far from perfect, and it is plausible to, argue that most research has the potential for policy consequences. It may well be that for practical reasons distinctions such as discussed in this section must be made. However, the values and advantages of general and timely access to data appear commanding, and the rule should be, it would seem, to err on the side of these values and advantages rather than to move prematurely to distinctions. INCIDENCE OF DATA SHARING The importance and value of data sharing in the social sciences can be ~llus- trated in a number of concrete, albeit somewhat unsystematic, ways. As will be noted at several points below, nothing approaching comprehensive infor- mation is available documenting either the incidence of data sharing or the multiple use of data collections. Several illustrations indicate, however, that very considerable sharing occurs and that data sharing is one of the vital un- derpinnings of research and instruction in the social sciences. The illustra- tions below also suggest that significant progress has been made toward real- ization of the values summarized in the preceding section. Social Science Data Archives Data sharing occurs in a variety of ways, including informal sharing among individual scholars and research groups as well as through organizations that function as data repositories and dissemination services. Indeed, one indica- tion of the importance of data sharing is the development in the United States and other nations during the past two decades of numerous organizations that serve as mechanisms to provide general access to the basic data of social science research. These facilities include national indeed, international "social science data archives" in the academic sector, venous private organi- zations that provide access to data, as well as organizations that maintain and disseminate data collected by government agencies. In addition, numerous local facilities maintain data collections, usually obtained from national data organizations, for use by a particular university community, government agency, or private firm. (A selected list of data organizations appears as the appendix to this paper.) The existence of these facilities and the resources in- vested in them suggests, of course, the value and importance of data sharing and multiple use of data collections.

so Jerome M. Clubb et al. The Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) serves, among other functions, as a social science data archive. It is based on institutional memberships: some 270 colleges and universities in the United States and more than a dozen other nations are currently members. In return for an annual membership fee, individuals at member institutions have access to ICPSR data holdings and related services. (Access to data and services is also available, at a charge, to individuals located at nonmember institutions in the government, private, and academic sectors.) At present, ICPSR data hold- ~ngs include more than 12,000 data files. A primary source of ICPSR data holdings is individual researchers and research groups who deposit data that they have collected in the course of their own research. Data are also ob- tained from government and private agencies, and the ICPSR staff collects and processes data, usually from public record sources. The size of ICPSR data holdings is a concrete indication of the willingness of researchers to share data. The data holdings include virtually all forms of social science data and span much of the spectrum of social science research. They range from relatively small cross-sectional surveys through large, extended, continuing surveys. In the latter category are the series of American National Election Studies (referred to above); the Parcel Study of Family Income Dynamics camed out each year since 1968 under the direction of James N. Morgan; the National Longitudinal Surveys of Labor Market Expenence conducted by Herbert S. Parnes; and the General Social Survey conducted by the National Opinion Research Center under the direction of James A. Davis and others. Also in- cluded in this category are the series of surveys conducted since 1971 in the nations of the European Economic Community under the auspices of the Commission of the European Economic Community. Extensive collections of public record data are also included in the archive. These include comprehensive voting records for the United States Congress from the Continental Congresses to the present and voting returns at the coun- ty level for elections to the offices of president, governor, and United States senator and representative from 1789 to the present. ICPSR also holds exten- sive data from the United States censuses from 1790 to the present, including unpublished data from the censuses of 1960 and 1970 (comprehensive data from the 1980 census are now being added) as well as data from the Current Population Surveys and various other data collection activities of the Bureau of the Census. The archive also includes data from censuses of various other nations, voting records from He United Nations, and data collected by the United Nations and other international agencies. In substantive terms, the ICPSR data bear upon the society, politics, and economy of the United States and a variety of other nations in both contem- porary and historical perspective. Extensive data are also included that bear

Sharing Data in the Social Sciences 51 upon the operations of the international political system and economy, the for- mal and informal interactions between nations, and domestic and international violence. Included as well are data collections pertinent to education, crime and deviance, criminal justice, public health, aging, and developmental pro- cesses more generally. The data holdings, in short, are a shared resource that is relevant to the study of social, economic, and political processes in virtually all their dimensions. Dissemination and use of these resources is at least suggestive of growth in both the incidence and importance of data sharing. The volume of data sup- plied by ICPSR for research and instructional applications has steadily grown through the years. In fiscal 1983, for example, some 307 colleges, universi- ties, and other organizations were supplied data amounting in total to over 138 billion characters of information. By comparison, in fiscal 1976 only 8 bil- lion characters were supplied. There is no solid information as to the nature of the actual use of the ICPSR data; figures given in the above and following paragraphs reflect institutional distribution of data by ICPSR. Data are supplied to a college or university and maintained by a local data facility for faculty, staff, and student use. In some cases data are supplied to one university for redissemination to other colleges or universities in the vicinity. Multiple uses of the same data are the rule, but few statistics on We number of discrete uses of a particular body of data supplied have ever been assembled. It is known that for the years from 1975 through 1980, more than 500 books, articles, dissertations, and confer- ence papers were reported to the ICPSR staff as based entirely or in part on data obtained from ICPSR, and there is reason to believe that these constitute only a portion of the papers and publications that used these data. Several samplings of professional journals and programs for the meetings of profes- sional associations indicate that no more than half of the publications and pa- pers based upon ICPSR data are reported to the staff. We cannot comment on the importance of these publications and papers as contributions to social science research, but we note that the magnitude of data supplied and the number of publications suggest rather extensive interest in data shanug and also indicate a measure of realization of the values of data sharing. Data Collections as National Resources A further indication of the incidence of data sharing is of a different order. In recent years research funding agencies have supported several major data col- lection efforts that are explicitly designed to serve the research interests of ex- tended communities of scholars rather than those of individual researchers or research groups. These data collections, in other words, are explicitly de- signed to serve the research interests of extended communities of scholars

52 Jerome M. Clubb et al. rather than those of individual researchers or research groups. These data collections, in other words, are explicitly intended to be shared. Four exam- ples are noted here. The multiwave Panel Study of Income Dynamics and the American National Election Studies began as specific research projects (the former in 1968 and the latter in 1952) and were subsequently continued to pro- vide data to be immediately available to all interested researchers. The General Social Survey began in 1972 as a general-purpose scholarly resource. A fourth example is provided by the two World Handbooks of Political and Social Indicators (1964 and 1972), which also involved collection of ex- tended data for general scholarly use. Here again, partial information on the use of these data collections can be provided. To date more than 200 copies of the data collection provided by the Panel Study of Income Dynamics have been supplied by ICPSR to aca- demic institutions and other organizations, and additional copies of the data have been supplied directly to researchers by the project staff. Over the past 18 years the data files produced by the American Election Studies have been used by tens of thousands of researchers and their students throughout the world. Copies of the machine-readable data files from one of the most recent surveys in this series, the 1978 American National Election Study, have been supplied by ICPSR to more than 100 academic and other institutions. More than 1,000 publications and other research contributions based on this series of studies have been reported (Center for Political Studies, 1980), and here again there is every indication Hat the actual incidence of publications and pa- pers based entirely or in part on these data has been significantly underre- ported. Information about the use of the third and fourth data collections noted above is more limited. ICPSR, however, has furnished well over 1,000 copies of specific files from the General Social Survey series to various institutions, and the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, which also distributes the data, has supplied additional copies. Jodice et al. (1980) re- port some 300 research applications employing data from the two World Handbooks of Political and Social indicators. As noted in He preceding section, shared data are used not only for research but also for teaching. As in He case of research use, only limited indications are available as to the actual incidence of instructional applications of shared data. Data for the SETUPS teaching units (described above) are maintained and disseminated by ICPSR, as are data for a number of other teaching pack- ages. To date more than 1,150 of these instructional data files have been sup- plied by ICPSR for use at well over 350 colleges and universities. Here again, these figures undoubtedly seriously understate actual use. I he data in question were supplied to institutions to be maintained for continuing use, and it is at least highly likely that these data were used in more than one class. No record is available of these multiple uses, nor is Here a record of the ins~uc-

Sharing Data in the Social Sciences 53 tors who have used shared data to fashion their own packages for instructional applications. Again these illustrations are intended only as indications of the incidence of data sharing and of its value and importance for research and teaching. Nothing approaching complete information is available, and it is certain that these illustrations provide only a very partial indication of the incidence of data sharing and of multiple applications of shared data collections. Taken in total they strongly suggest, however, that data sharing has become an impor- tant mechanism to support research and teaching in the social sciences. TECHNICAL OBSTACLES TO DATA SHARING While data sharing in the social sciences appears widespread, there are also important obstacles that often slow the sharing process or completely prevent it. For the purposes of the present discussion these obstacles can be grouped into two categories. The first includes essentially technical problems, most of which, at least in principle, can be solved. The second category relates to what might be described as conflicting values and obligations and to the re- ward structure of the social sciences and, for that matter, of the sciences more generally. In this area, solutions are less easy to identify. Stated in general terms, technical obstacles to sharing computer-readable data in the social sciences reduce to matters of machine and software-system incompatibilities, data-file structures, and standards and procedures for recod- ing, processing, and documenting data. In earlier stages of the development of computer technology, essentially technical factors sometimes constituted virtually insurmountable barriers to transferring data from one computer in- stallation to another. At the present stage of technology, however, difficul- ties encountered in transferring data from one installation to another are large- ly due to the practices of original data collectors and processors rather than to technical factors. Machine Incompatibilities Earlier, for example, computational equipment was characterized by consid- erable variation in terms of conventions used for internal representation of in- formation. Variations existed not only between equipment produced by different manufacturers, but even between machines produced by the same manufacturer. Today, however, very significant standardization has oc- curred. Variations still exist, but they can be overcome by what might be termed a lowest-common-denominator approach. That is to say, data re- corded in character mode can be more consistently transferred from one ma- chine to another than data recorded in binary mode. Common conventions

54 Jerome M. Clubb et al. for internal storage and representation of character-mode data (either ASCII or EBCDIC) have been more widely accepted than for binary-mode data. Similarly, data organized in card-image or rectangular logical record format, whether recorded on magnetic tape or other media, can be more readily trans- ferred between installations than data organized in other forms. The only ma- jor exceptions to these generalizations involve recently developed microcom- puters and the nonstandard data storage devices (floppy and hard disks, cas- settes, etc.) they use. Acceptance of common conventions is less general across this equipment than in the case of larger computational devices. Incompatibilities of Software Systems Technical requirements and characteristics of data management and analysis computer program systems also sometimes complicate date sharing. Data or- ganized for analysis using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), for example, cannot be analyzed using the Statistical Analysis System (SAS) without reformatting and reorganization. Here again, the character-mode, card-image, or logical record approach referred to above constitutes a common denominator. Data records in these forms can be or- ganized and restructured ("filebuilt," to use the jargon) to meet the require- ments of these systems or any other available general-purpose computer soft- ware system. To do so, however, requires rather elaborate and time- consuming effort. Some of these systems include capabilities that allow data prepared for another system to be "read" and somewhat routinely converted to the required form and structure. Conversion capabilities of this sort could probably be added to all such systems. Many of the problems encountered in converting data prepared according to the conventions of one software system for use by another revolve around the database dictionaries rather than the data records themselves. Database dic- tionaries contain technical and substantive information about the data file and each of the data elements in it. By prerecording this kind of descriptive infor- mation in computer-readable form in a database dictionary, the actual retriev- al and analysis of data is greatly simplified. Indeed, the development of data- base dictionaries, begun in the late 1960s, stands as an important innovation in facilitating ready access to and use of large and complicated data collec- tions. Yet most database dictionaries in use in the social sciences are tied specifically to certain software packages like SPSS, OSIRIS, or SAS; their conversion for use by other packages is usually not straightforward. Thus, researchers attempting to use data prepared by others must often forgo direct use of information contained in the "foreign" database dictionary or, alterna- tively, they must reenter the information into a computer-readable form com- patible with locally available software. As mentioned above, conversion ca-

Sharing Data in the Social Sciences 55 pabilities could be added, or are being added, that would allow computer in- stallations to accept database dictionaries prepared for other systems. These additions would surmount a significant barrier to effective data shanng. Difficulties are also encountered in transferring large and complexly seuc- tured data files for use at other installations. The first issue is a matter of lim- itations of machine capacity at recipient installations and can usually be over- come by provision of custom subsets of larger files tailored to specific needs. The second is a matter of availability of appropriate computer program capa- bilities. Increasingly, social scientists have begun to use complex structures to organize data, such as hierarchical and, to a lesser degree, network struc- tures. While these file structures are appropriate for the data and facilitate data management and research applications, computer programs to work with such structured data are not available at many installations. Data structured in these fashions can usually be converted to more standard rectangular ("flat") form, but to do so requires appropriate software, and the result of a "flattening" operation is a data file that is substantially larger than the original structured file. At present, however, this difficulty remains relatively con- fined, since files with complex structures are not yet widely used. It is also a difficulty that can be overcome through furler development of general- purpose computer programs. Data Preparation and Documentation Further obstacles to data sharing result from matters of data preparation and documentation. Data received from original collectors often have undocu- mented codes, inconsistencies, and other errors; coding conventions and for- mats Mat are not acceptable on other systems; and inadequate documentation. The result in such cases is data that can be used only with difficulty or not at all. Problems of this sort are sometimes said to be the product of absence of standards for data preparation and documentation. In fact, however, basic standards for preparation and documentation are rather widely accepted and followed (they are stated systematically in Geda (1979) and Roistacher et al. (19801; the problems arise because the original data collectors and processors are not aware of the existence of the standards or they are simply not fol- lowed. This situation seems to result from several considerations that, on the sur- face at least, appear fully understandable. Data collectors sometimes prefer to continue to follow data preparation and documentation practices with which they are familiar even though Dose practices may be at odds with the ones followed by others and with accepted standards. Investment in con- vening to new practices is seen as unnecessary. Accomplishment of research goals is often not seen as requiring fully "cleaned" and well-documented data.

56 Jerome M. Clubb et al. The requirements of research, in other words, may be different than those of data sharing, and data are collected primarily to achieve particular research goals, not to serve the purposes of data sharing and secondary analysis. Considerations of funding are sometimes at issue. Available financial re- sources are seen as inadequate to support both data collection and analysis as well as elaborate data preparation and documentation. In this situation, the laker work is given lower prionty. Views such as these are in need of reconsideration, and not solely because of data sharing. It is likely Hat application of basic standards of data prepara- tion from the beginning of data collection, through data processing, and throughout a project would result in reduced rather than increased project costs. A more readily usable file would be created, and time-consuming in- terruptions of analysis to correct errors would be avoided. Costly back- tracking to recover needed but unrecorded information would similarly be reduced or eliminated, and, certainly, Be purposes of data sharing would be better served. A distinction should be made here between technical and substantive docu- mentation. By substantive documentation we mean such matters as descrip- tions and explanations of sampling procedures and of the original design of the data collection and of deviations from it; of the assumptions that underlie particular questions, combinations of questions, and derived measures; of the degree to which instruments were pretested and the results of those pretests; and so on. As noted above, basic standards for technical documentation have been established and are in use in the preparation of many research data col- lections, but practices regarding substantive documentation are less consistent and probably generally less adequate than in the case of technical documenta- tion. Yet the substantive aspects of documentation are fully as important as tech- nical ones in facilitating effective secondary use of data collections. Data may be in perfect technical order and readily usable in these terms, but if Be substantive documentation is inadequate, the data are subject to inadvertent misuse with the result of misleading or erroneous findings. The inadequacies of substantive documentation are apparently widespread and extend to the li- terature reporting research findings. Data Access We argue here that technical obstacles to data sharing are largely related to the practices of original data collectors and processors rather than to He peculian- ties of computers and data processing equipment. We have referred, howev- er, to data sharing that involves actual transferral of copies of data collections, whether directly from one researcher or installation to another or through an

Sharing Data in the Social Sciences 57 intermediary data archive or other organization. For some of the purposes of secondary analysis, the process of transfemng data is not fully adequate and may indeed present a barrier to data sharing. Secondary analysis often requires that researchers combine data from di- verse data collections to create a new data collection designed for new re- search goals. The ready availability of data collections means that research- ers can carry out exploratory analyses to design new data collection efforts, to assess the efficacy of particular measures and questions, and to perform pre- liminary tests of hypotheses. But to achieve these benefits under present modes of data sharing, a researcher must acquire data collections and install them on local equipment, a process that often involves time delays and con- siderable investment in data manipulation. The consequence is likely to be that researchers sometimes forgo the benefits of available data.3 Difficulties such as these could be reduced through remote access to data collections. Remote access to on-line data collections is now fully feasible in technical terms, but under present conditions is unnecessarily cumbersome and costly and is, as a consequence, only used in limited ways by academic researchers. CONFLICTING VALUES AND OBLIGATIONS Before turning to the issues of conflicting values and obligations, it may be useful to briefly consider several related matters. One of these concerns indi- vidual creativity. The design and execution of a data collection effort is a creative activity that sometimes involves innovative techniques. Why should secondary analysts be allowed to benefit from the creative work of original data collectors to which they themselves did not contribute, and why should original data collectors be expected to reveal their innovative techniques to others who are potential competitors? A further question concerns the al- leged temptations presented by data sharing: since secondary analyses that re- plicate and confirm reported findings are difficult to publish, secondary ana- lysts, or so this view holds, are tempted to be unfairly critical of the original work. The latter allegation is, of course, related to another allegation that is sometimes made: that original data collectors sometimes refuse to share data out of concern that that their reported findings may be refuted and inadequate methods revealed. There are several responses to these views. The notion of private individ- ual creativity, at least as phrased above, contradicts the concept of open pur- suit of replicable and testable knowledge, particularly in the case of costly data collections that cannot be readily duplicated. Development of innova- tive techniques, moreover, is a contribution for which professional reward and recognition is often given. Furthermore, critical examination and evalua- tion of data collection and analysis procedures are necessary elements of the

58 Jerome M. Clubb et al. research process and should be listed as benefits of data sharing, not liabiii- ties. Unfair criticism is obviously undesirable, but there are other mech- anisms available to discourage such practices that do not involve secrecy. Reports of replications that consign original results are probably too frequent- ly rejected for publication: greater receptivity on the part of editors and re- ~iewers to such studies, particularly those that involve innovative replica- tions, would be a step toward removing obstacles to data sharing. Rewards for Data Sharing These issues are obviously related to the reward structure of the social sciences. What might be termed the reward dilemma is easily stated. In so- cial science research, as in the sciences more generally, rewards come from original research contributions, not from contributing data for use by others. Sharing data may be desirable, it may contribute to the development of knowl- edge, and it may facilitate the research of others, but it has no place on the curriculum vita. In fact, data sharing may hurt: premature release of data may allow another to publish it first, and any sharing deprives the original in- vestigator, and perhaps students and colleagues, of long-term opportunities to mine data collections. These are real values that cannot be easily set aside, and they are at odds with the individual and collective values summarized in a preceding section. But the dilemma is obviously overstated, and its various components are not of equal weight. There are rewards for sharing data. Contribution of valua- ble data for use by others is recognized, albeit often only informally, and one component of the stature of some senior scholars is probably the quality, val- ue, and innovative nature of data that they have collected and shared. However, rewards for sharing data could be strengthened. A minimal step would be to improve citation practices. Journal editors might take greater care to ensure that the sources of data that provide the bases for submitted manuscripts are fully and accurately cited. Although the suggestion may am pear trivial, some sort of public recognition of data contributed for secondary use, perhaps in He form of journal or newsletter notes, might be valuable. It is also worm noting that sharing data is beneficial to all. To He degree Hat a norm of data sharing is followed, original data collectors also have access to the data collected by others. Concerns for prior publication by others as a consequence of prematurely shared data can also be exaggerated. The concerns often seem to neglect He advantages pnmaIy investigators have over secondary analysts. PrimaIy (n- vestigators design instruments, measurement procedures, and data collection strategies, and Hey do so to address well-formulated research questions. Thus, He possibility that secondary analysts, even with immediate access to

Sharing Data in the Social Sciences 59 data, will be able to scoop primary investigators in any significant way seems limited. There are also steps that could be taken that would further reduce such poss- ibilities. A useful small step might be taken by foundations and other re- search funding agencies. In some cases funding is sufficient to support data collection but insufficient to support analysis, so that reports of primary find- ings as well as data sharing are delayed. In these situations, more adequate research support would speed both processes.4 It is also sometimes argued that funding is adequate to support data collection and analysis but insufficient to support the documentation, cleaning, and processing of data to forms ade- quate for use by secondary analysts. As suggested above, however, adher- ence to basic standards of data preparation from the beginning of data collec- tion would probably reduce rather than increase costs and would produce data collections adequate for secondary analysis. Mechanisms to protect the prior rights of primary investigators, even though data are shared, have been suggested. One of these is to accord to pri- mary investigators for some specified period after release of data a right to re- ~riew manuscripts by secondary analysts and to request delay of publication. Such a mechanism and others of a similar nature may have disagreeable implications and may also admit to abuse, but it has been used and may merit consideration. Suggestions such as these obviously do not reconcile the dilemma, but the dilemma is still overstated. The scientific value of data sharing appears com- manding, and it is probably the case that many, perhaps most, academic data collectors are agreed that sharing data is desirable, with specific categories of data noted as exceptions (see below). There is probably also substantial agreement, in principle, that data should be shared after a specified period, perhaps 1-2 years to allow time for completion of initial analyses and publica- tion. Steps are needed to institutionalize such a norm while recognizing legi- timate exceptions, and suggestions to this end are made at We conclusion of this paper. Such a norm, however, should not be categorical. In Me case of several categories of data, a norm of more immediate release would be desirable. There is no obvious reason, for example, why data relevant to social science research that are collected by government agencies and Mat do not pose haz- ards to confidentiality or national interest should not be made available im- mediately. Similarly, it would seem that data collections commissioned to address public policy issues should be subject to early release, and this norm should also extend to data that, though not commissioned for public policy purposes, bear directly on policy issues. And finally, for data that are of im- mediate value to large numbers of researchers and that relate to critical re- search issues, a norm of early release would appear desirable, however, with

60 Jerome M. Clubb et al. appropriate steps to accord recognition to original data collectors and to en- sure that they obtain the benefits of initial publication. Misuse of Scientific Data Another area of value conflict involves the possible misuse of scientific data. There are at least two aspects to this issue. One involves He concern that oth- er researchers will misapply data and arrive at erroneous findings, perhaps through use of inappropriate methods or by failing to recognize limiting characteristics of data. A related concern is that secondary analysts will waste their time pursuing avenues of inquiry that the primary investigator has already found to be fruitless. While misapplications of data and wasted effort are obviously undesirable, refusal of access to data on these grounds may sometimes seem to imply omniscience on the part of a primary investigator. The peer review system, moreover, remains the primary safeguard against publication of erroneous findings. Whatever the shortcomings of peer review and they are surely many it appears preferable to denial of access to data on the basis of the prior judgments of original data collectors. The second concern is that data will be used for unscientific purposes, per- haps for profit making or to serve ends that the original data collector consid- ers inappropriate or antisocial (such as deliberately casting particular groups in an unfavorable light). In some instances, such concerns are taken as argu- ments against all data shanng; in others Hey are taken as reasons to limit data sharing to established and recognized scholars or to academic researchers. It is easy to sympathize with some of these concerns. Except in the case of data that bridge privacy or place individuals or organizations at risk (discussed be- low), however, these concerns do not seem to justify complete refusal to share data. To argue, moreover, that use of data should be confined to established or academic researchers only and that use for government or commercial pur- poses should be precluded raises complex questions, particularly for data col- lected at public expense. From some points of view at least, He right of an original data collector whose work was supported by public funds to make such a decision would be highly questionable. Similarly, to allow only parti- cular private groups access to data while refusing access to other groups would also present questions of propriety and would involve judgments and distinctions that some researchers would be unwilling to make. Proprietary Interests A turner set of conflicting values concerns propneta~y data. Commercial concerns sometimes collect data that have potential value for social science research. Since these data are collected for profit-making purposes, provi-

Sharing Data in the Social Sciences 61 sion of general access would be competitively disadvantageous. One example is data collected by the A. C. Nielsen Company on television viewing habits, which includes data on characteristics of households and of small areas; data collected by commercial polling firms constitute a more ob- vious example. Still other firms collect data that both provide a basis for a prof~t-making service and are sold, sometimes at high prices, for a profit. (The Dun & Bradstreet small-area data are an example.) It is unlikely that social scientists can achieve open and general access to such data. But if a data-sharing no was more fully institutionalized within the social sciences, such firms might be encouraged to provide at least limited access to their data, perhaps in the form of `'public-use tapes," for social science research. (Some of the approaches discussed below to provide access to confidential data might also afford a means to allow social science researchers access to pro- prietary data of this sort.) A second category of data that is sometimes Heated as proprietary is that collected by private firms for purposes of policy or performance evaluation under contract from government agencies. In some cases, the data are re- mned by the firms as a basis for further work on their own. In this case, however, there is no obvious reason to exempt such publicly funded data from the general norms of data sharing suggested above, and the contracts commis- sioning such data collection efforts provide a convenient means to ensure data sharing. Proprietary issues also arise in another way. Some organizations, individ- uals, and groups of individuals resist being the subjects of research out of concern for privacy or fear of embarrassment or damage" and are willing to cooperate with researchers only under restrictive conditions. In some in- stances these restrictions include explicit or tacit understanding that data col- lected by He researcher will not be made available to others. Even in the ab- sence of such understandings, researchers sometimes fear that release of data will effectively `'dry up the source" and result in future refusals to cooperate. Hence, data sharing is understandably resisted.5 Here again, approaches that might be used to provide at least limited access to data that threaten confiden- tiality might also be used to provide access to data of this sort. Confidentiality and Privacy Among the most frequently discussed and controversial issues about data sharing are those that relate to matters of confidentiality. Some categories of data allow identification of specific individuals or organizations. As a conse- quence, such data abridge privacy and place individuals and organizations at risk of damage or, at least, embarrassment. Issues of confidentiality and pri- vacy raise complex legal questions that we are not qualified to discuss (see

62 Jerome M. Clubb et al. Cecil and Griffith, in this volume). Here we can only attempt to better define the magnitude of the problems presented by this kind of data and note various means to allow shared use of data without abridging confidentiality or priva- cy. Most social science research does not require identification of specific indi- viduals or organizations. For that research, problems of confidentiality would be solved if the simple practice of removing names and substituting nu- menc identification codes was uniformly followed. Similarly, confidentiali- ty would be further preserved if occasional data values that reflect rare attrib- utes and, hence, allow identification of specific individuals or organizations were consistently removed from data collections.6 For most data and most re- search purposes, uniform adherence to these simple practices would preserve confidentiality and privacy. It is often noted, however, that in some cases combinations of variables can be used to identify specific individuals or organizations through a process of "triangulation." It is also sometimes possible to combine data from different sources in a triangulation process. (The combination of automobile registra- tion information with small-area data from the U.S. census is sometimes giv- en as an illustration of this possibility.) Three means to avoid such possibili- ties have been suggested and implemented: to introduce limited random error into data; to group data; and to combine variables to create composite vari- ables that do not allow identification of specific individuals. Obviously, all of these approaches involve some reduction of the research value of data. A fourth approach, removing offensive variables entirely, is even more strenuous in this respect. But before undertaking or advising these rather heroic steps, it might be legitimate to ask why, under what circums- tances, at what costs, and at what risks to whom would the laborious process of triangulation be undertaken. Whatever the answer, however, most social science research does not require data that allow identification of individuals, and whenever necessary, means are available to prevent it. There are categories of research that require use of data with identifiable in- dividuals or organizations. Investigations of elite groups or other small or special populations win rare traits and studies of particular organizations or sets of organizations are examples. In such research, the means noted above cannot be used to protect confidentiality. Even for this research, however, approaches have been suggested and used to allow at least limited sharing of data. One approach involves a fonn of licensing or "swearing in" as a condi- tion for access to data with the possibility of legal sanctions and penalties for breaches of confidentiality. Another approach involves provision of custom data reductions and analyses: for example, some organizations maintain con- fidential data collections and provide, to user specifications, subsets of data, summary measures, or analytic results that do not allow identification of indi-

Sharing Data in the Social Sciences 63 viduals. Both of these approaches might also provide a means to allow ac- cess to proprietary data. Obviously, using either of these approaches, a re- searcher is effectively subjected to a measure of surveillance, and some res- traints are imposed on the kinds of research and analyses that can be carried out. Even so, they do permit at least limited access to otherwise inaccessible data. MODES AND FACILITIES FOR DATA SHARING There are two primary modes for sharing and providing access to social science data. The first of these is simple sharing in informal and somewhat ad hoc fashion among researchers. Individual researchers and research orga- nizations simply request and receive copies of data from other researchers and organizations. In some cases, data so obtained are then supplied to still other individuals. The second mode involves use of intermediary facilities that function as data repositories and dissemination services. In some instances, the facilities are a part of research organizations or data collection agencies; in others they are more or less independent organizations. Informal Data Sharing Data sharing in substantial but unknown volume occurs through the first moue, and informal sharing in this manner is often seen as involving signifi- cant advantages. One advantage is economic: the original data collector bears the costs of maintaining and supplying data or charges Hose who re- quest data the minimal costs of copying tapes and duplicating documentation.7 There are no overhead costs for maintaining an intermediary installation. Other advantages of this mode are the intimate familiarity data collectors have with their own data and their consequent ability to advise and assist secondary analysts. Intermediary agencies are believed to lack this fa- miliarity or conversance with data. Still a third advantage of the direct, infor- mal mode is the absence of bureaucratic obstacles that intermediary facilities are sometimes seen as interposing between original data collectors and sec- ondary users. Some of the disadvantages of this mode to data sharing are related to its ad- vantages. Since the original data collectors bear the costs of maintaining data collections, they suffer at least the distractions involved in honoring requests for data. If requests for data are numerous, those distractions may become intolerable and, for that reason, the data may become unavailable or may not be preserved for extended periods. Thus He cumulative value of data collec- tions is reduced. This informal data sharing approach probably occurs most commonly w~th-

64 Jerome M. Clubb et al. in networks of researchers working in the same areas. Researchers in other areas are less likely to know of the existence of relevant data, and their re- quests for access may be less readily honored. Hence this mode is less likely to facilitate interdisciplinary use of data or to allow realization of the combina- tonal opportunities provided by data sharing. Technical difficulties—in teens, for example, of nonstandard formats and inadequate documentation— are also likely to be more frequent in informal data sharing, and safeguards for data quality are probably less effective. Sharing Through Intermediary Facilities The second approach to data shanog, through intermediary facilities, requires somewhat more extended discussion. As noted above, there are numerous such facilities in the academic, government, and private sectors in the United States and other countries. These include nationally oriented social science data archives in the academic community, which function in more or less general-purpose fashion in that they are oriented toward several or all social science disciplines. A number of agencies of the federal government also have data centers that maintain, manage, and disseminate data produced by those agencies. Finally, there are numerous local facilities that provide ac- cess to data—often obtained from national data organizations and provide other data services for a particular university community, government agen- cy, or private firm. Thus it is possible to speak of an extended, if somewhat inchoate, network of data facilities that extends from the level of local instal- lations and clienteles to the national and international levels. (The appendix is a partial list of these facilities.) At this point we are primarily concerned with the nationally oriented data archives in the academic sector, which seem to be the primary organizational mechanism used for sharing data for social science research. The ICPSR, one of these archives, was discussed above. A second is the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research, located at Yale University and Be University of Connecticut. The Roper Center differs from ICPSR in that it is primarily, al- though not exclusively, oriented toward sample survey data collected by com- mercial firms and agencies (ICPSR data holdings largely originate from the academic and goverrunent sectors). The extended data holdings of the Roper Center are highly diverse in substantive terms, they cover many nations, and Hey have the advantage of considerable temporal reach: some of the data are from surveys conducted as early as the 1930s. Data archives in other nations include the Zentralarchiv for empirische Sozialforschung, at the University of Cologne; the Danish Data Archives, at He University of Odense; the Social Science Research Council Survey Archive, at Essex University in Great Britain; the Belgian Archives for the Social Sciences, at Louvain la Neuve

Sharing Data in He Social Sciences 65 University; and the Steinmetz Archives in the Netherlands. There are, in ad- dition, a number of private-sector organizations that provide access to social science data produced primarily by the federal government. Chief among them are DUALabs, Inc., of Arlington, Virginia, and Data Resources, Inc., of Lexington, Massachusetts, among others.8 The academically based organizations listed above differ in substantive orientation and in terms of the forms of data they hold. Their basic function, however, is the same: to maintain data resources and make them available for research and instructional applications. The primary source of data is re- searchers who have collected them in the course of their work, but data are also obtained from government and private sources, and data are sometimes collected by the archives themselves. On a selective basis, the archives pro- cess data to eliminate or document errors and inconsistencies, convert them to standard format to facilitate dissemination, and prepare documentation. In most cases data can be supplied, usually on magnetic tape, to researchers in technical forms compatible with requirements of local computational facilities.9 The financial bases of the academically based organizations are highly di- verse and in some instances resemble patchwork quilts. In some cases sup- port is derived from a combination of member fees or other subventions from participating colleges and universities, fees for services, and subsidies from the universities at which they are located. Grants and awards from govern- ment and private research funding agencies are also received, usually to sup- port special projects or for development of facilities. Support for the opera- tions of some of the European archives is provided by national governments or research-supporting agencies. In some cases private-sector data organiza- tions are for-profit operations, while others are not for profit. Government data facilities are, of course, supported by government; the fees assessed non- government users for access to data and services range from minimal to very costly. In general, variations in support base have obvious implications for the levels and kinds of services that these organizations provide and the fees (if any) for obtaining data and related services. Prom the standpoint of secondary analysis, these data organizations, parti- cularly those in the academic sector, have a number of advantages. Their holdings tend to be substantively diverse and include data of varied forms, and they cover many disciplines. Thus they encourage and facilitate interdisci- plinary use of data, and their data dissemination activities are not confined to limited networks of scholars. They are located at universities, staffed and directed by trained social scientists, and they usually draw upon advisory panels and committees composed of active social scientists. Consequently, they are well integrated into the research community. They also relieve on- ginal data collectors of the burdens of maintaining and supplying data to oth-

66 Jerome M. Clubb et al. ers, and they contribute to the development and implementation of more uni- form practices of data preparation and documentation. Because they preserve data indefinitely at a central location, the cumulative and combinatorial re- search value of data collection efforts can be better realized. Intermediary facilities also have disadvantages, some of which were al- luded to above: the overhead expenses required to maintain them; their dis- tance from the original data-collection process; and their intermediary nature itself, sometimes interpreted as posing bamers between original data collec- tors and others with whom data might be shared. But at this point the advan- tages for data sharing of intermediary facilities seem to greatly outweigh their disadvantages. PRACTICES OUTSIDE SOCL\L SCIENCES A somewhat superficial review of data-shanng practices and access to re- search resources in other sciences suggests a range of diversity at least as broad as that found in the social sciences. It suggests as well the presence of problems, issues, and disagreements that appear similar to those encountered in the social sciences. But before turning to these matters, the limitations of the comments that follow must be made clear. A comprehensive examination of data-sharing practices in the other sciences would be a monumental task in- deed. Such an examination would require both review of a very large and complex literature and systematic interviews with scientists to determine the ways and degrees to which actual practices diverge from stated principles and conceptions of appropriate behavior. It would also require a degree of con- versance with the substance, methods, and technologies and, indeed, the lore and gossip—of diverse areas of inquiry that we lack. The discussion here is based on a significantly more limited effort. It is primarily concerned with three rather specific areas within the natural and biomedical sciences. It is based on relatively shallow soundings of relevant literature and on more or less extended and systematic discussions with col- leagues active in research in these-areas. Therefore, the discussion is not well informed in technical terms, but is impressionistic and tentative. However, even this limited effort indicates great diversity, and it provides at least some idea of issues confronted in data sharing in the natural and biomedical sciences. The principle of data sharing and the collegial norm of contributing data to central resource bases are apparently well established in at least some areas of the natural and biomedical sciences. Particularly when expensive ins~umen- tation is involved or when maintenance of large colonies of experimental sub- jects is required, scientists—or perhaps more accurately, their laboratories are seemingly accustomed to the use of computer technology to share data and

Sharing Data in the Social Sciences to administrative arrangements that facilitate exchange of data. In some cases individual researchers contribute observational data collected with one type of instrumentation in anticipation of receiving analogous data derived from alternative data collection techniques. They actively engage in a two-way flow of data, often with explicit agreements about levels of mea- surement, units of measurement, and technical formats for supplying data. Not everyone is fortunate enough, of course, to be located at an institution that is technically well endowed, and many scientists simply avail themselves of data from central repositories in their research activity. They are able to per- form analyses based on materials that are provided on magnetic tape or to which direct, on-line access is possible for essentially the costs of computer time for data copying and analysis. In these cases, there is only a one-way flow of data from the resource base to the scientist. The range of data resources and the conditions under which they are avail- able are highly varied, but at least two facilities- one on the sun and one in medicine appear markedly similar to the social science data archives de- scribed above. For physicists and astronomers interested in data on the sun, there are a variety of data collections available from the World Data Center A for Solar-Terrestrial Physics in Boulder, Colorado. This is one of the world data centers established in conjunction with the 1957 International Geophysical Year in order to archive and provide data related to solar and in- terplanetary phenomena. 10 Solar-geophysical data contributed by more than 60 institutions located around the world are archived at the Boulder facility. All of these laborato- ries or observatories have substantial investments in the land-based or satellite instrumentation that is used to collect the data, and it is the accepted norm for the data Mat they collect to be deposited at the Boulder center. Even the U.S. Air Force prepares a special public-use tape, from its own otherwise classified satellite data, for deposit there. The basic data series available from the Boulder center include information on sunspots, solar radio emissions, coron- al holes and flares, solar wind, cosmic rays, and the like; the detailed data se- nes contain hundreds of variables. While some of the series extend back to 1957, most were initiated during the mid-1960s or later. Data are available from Boulder in three forms on tape, in printed re- ports, and by telegram. With continuous data input, the various senes are frequently updated. A researcher can obtain computer-readable data on tape in Free dimensions: selected variables for selected times at selected locations on the sun's surface or in space. Data are also published by Me center in monthly reports, which contain selected variables in a standardized format. These data are published with only a 2-month delay and constitute an extreme- ly timely data source by most scientific standards. Since many astronomical events are relatively short-lived, the center also 67

68 Jerome M. Clubb et al. operates, for a fee, a rapid notification system. Through this service re- searchers can be notified by telegram of the occurrence of a major solar- terrestial event, such as a flare of a certain size or larger. In this way, a re- searcher interested in geomagnetic stows on the sun, for example, can be no- tified immediately when such an event starts in order to begin independent ob- servation and data collection. After analysis by the researcher, it would be expected that the data would also be deposited with the center. In more general terms, it appears to be the accepted norm that individual scientists and research groups deposit relevant data produced by independent observation win He various centers. Among astronomers, such data are ex- pected to be deposited after initial analysis and publication was completed, usually 1-2 years. An astronomer who observed a rare event, such as a su- pernova, would be expected to immediately report its occurrence to the Smithsonian Center for Short-Lived Phenomena so that other scientists could be notified and begin independent observations. We have no information as to actual adherence to these standards or of any sanctions for noncompliance. The Laboratory Animal Data Bank (LADB) is a second example of data- shanog facilities of this sort. LADB is a computer-based, on-line informa- tion resource developed by the National Library of Medicine (see National Library of Medicine, 1980~. Its purpose is to provide biomedical researchers with information obtained from laboratory animals on hematology, clinical chemistry, pathology, environment, husbandry, and growth and develop- ment. The system was originally developed to meet the needs of the Department of Health and Human Services' Committee to Coordinate Environmental Programs, including the National Cancer Institute, the National Center for Toxicological Research, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Interagency Regulatory Liaison Group. But the data base is now available to any researcher, for a fee, for on-line or off-line access. Approximately 50 laboratories routinely contribute data to LADB about each of their experimental animals, the conditions under which they are main- tained, and details about their aging and death. The data base now contains information from over 500 animal groups composed of 30,000 individual ani- mals, representing 65 strains or species of animals. There are now more than 1 million observations in the data bank, and data are continually being added. An individual scientist might use this data base to establish parameters for normalcy in terms of various physiological and biological measurements or to evaluate spontaneous pathological changes in the animals. The information can be obtained in the form of marginal distributions for selected variables, cross-tabulations or correlations, or complete listings of the data for selected subject animals. And, as noted above, researchers can gain access to the data through the contractor that provides computer services for LADB, Trough the National Library of Medicine, or Trough direct access to He data base.

Sharing Data in the Social Sciences 69 Again, these facilities appear markedly similar in function and goals to the social science data archives described above, and they seem to further high- light the advantages of intermediary facilities as mechanisms for data sharing. ~ ~ In at least some other areas of other sciences, however, the norm of data sharing is apparently less well established and less frequently followed. In some areas of the biomedical sciences, data-sharing practices apparently take quite a different form from those that are relatively widespread in the so- cial sciences. In general, data sharing means publication of research results in journal articles and the like. Very little sharing of the data on which re- search reports are based seems to occur, and data sharing is not widely advo- cated as a desirable or necessary practice. While nearly all biomedical re- searchers would agree in principle to make basic data available to other re- searchers, the practice is seemingly rarely followed. There appear to be Free main reasons for the lack of data sharing in these areas: a proprietary attitude toward data and research; the form of the data that might be shared; and the relative ease with which data can be collected and re- search can be replicated. Proprietary issues seem to be the most important elements in the nonsharing equation: researchers place such a high premium on being the first to publish a particular finding and are in such competition with each other to do so that most would be unwilling to make basic research data available to other potentially competitive researchers. This unwilling- ness to share basic data persists even beyond the publications of findings, since sharing the basic data that underlie a particular investigation would re- veal research techniques and methods that the original researcher was continu- ing to use in ongoing investigation. The apparent concern is that such revela- tions would not be in the self-interest of the original investigator. The second obstacle to data sharing in these areas is the form of the data to be shared. The data in question are frequently records of observations, test results, and the like, transcribed in idiosyncratic fashion in typed and hand- written notes and stored in ponderous notebooks and folios. Not only is the technology for sharing such inflation (i.e., photocopying of some sort) ex- pensive and cumbersome, but the organization of the material often presents serious difficulties of interpretation for other researchers. When sharing of these materials occurs, it is accomplished by one researcher traveling to the research site of another to examine research notebooks, charts, and the like, and by interviewing the original researcher and his or her technicians. This is obviously a time-consuming process, and few researchers have the luxury of traveling or hosting such an exchange of basic data. If a piece of research is called into question, such an examination can be undertaken, but it is not part of the normal routine because of its cost and cumbersome nature. The third reason for He lack of widespread sharing of basic research data in these areas is the relative ease with which new data can be collected and re-

70 Jerome M. Clubb et al. search thereby replicated. This issue has two related elements: the desire of researchers to be in control of the design, conduct, and conditions of data col- lection and the relative availability of funding and facilities for data collec- tion. Much of the necessary data can be collected in other contexts with rela- tive ease through the use of clinical and laboratory procedures and facilities to which these researchers have reasonably ready access. In addition, funding is plentiful (in a relative sense) and thus the incentive to reuse data is not strong. Data sharing does occur in a number of specific areas of biomedical re- search, and its value is recognized. One example of sharing is the National Cooperative Crohn's Disease Project. Because of the rarity of cases to study, over 15 sites were jointly funded to pool data on the disease and trade that data back and forth among researchers. An indication of concern for sharing is provided by a major journal, The Journal of Clinical Investigation, which has undertaken to require explicit discussions of methods, data used, and experi- mental procedures in manuscripts as a condition for publication. This re- quirement, however, has apparently led some biomedical researchers to turn to other publishing avenues (which exist in abundance) rather than comply. These examples seem to illustrate rather divergent practices of data sharing in the other sciences. They also suggest both similarities and differences be- tween the social and other sciences. In numerous scientific areas there ap- pears to be widespread interest in the development of data centers to collect, maintain, and provide access to basic data, and a number of such centers seem similar, on superficial examination, in many essential functions to the dat~ar- chives and facilities of the social sciences. There are concerns about the "ta- blishment and application of adequate standards for collecting, encoding, re- cording, and documenting data, for data quality, for data evaluation, and~for We need for scientifically trained personnel to manage data centers and facilities - all of which are very similar to the data-shanng literature of Me so- c~al sciences. Indeed, the concluding paragraph of one survey of the data needs of science and technology might with only modest terminolog~cal change and a few omissions appear in a discussion of data needs and sharing in the social sciences (Lide, 1981 : 1349~: We cannot take for granted that the data generated by the research establishment will automatically flow smoothly to Hose who need it. Changes in attitude are re- quired by the scientific community, industry, and the federal government. The scientific community must place a higher priority on organizing the data it produces and presenting these data in a form suitable for technological applications. Private industry should put more resources into developing data bases to support long-term industrial needs. The federal government must recognize that its commitment to

Sharing Data in the Social Sciences 71 supporting basic research for the long-range benefit of the country also implies a commitment to make the results available in a fond that maximizes their utility. There are also differences. In discussions of data centers and facilities in the other sciences, heaviest emphasis seems to be placed on what might be termed base-line or reference data. These are data based on repeated mea- surements and are apparently intended to provide the typical or "best" values for particular phenomena or classes of entities or subjects. Discussions are frequently concerned with data about phenomena or subjects that have or can be assumed to have invariant characteristics and that can be measured repe- atedly in diverse contexts. These are data collections to which a scientist might refer in attempting, for example, to identify a particular chemical com- pound or against which experimental or observational results might be com- pared to determine the degree to which the characteristics of a particular ex- perimental population or set of observations depart from the norm. A report, "Study on the Problems of Accessibility and Dissemination of Data for Science and Technology" (1975), puts it as follows: Data with which we are concerned . . . may be regarded as the "crystallized" pre- sentation of the essence of scientific knowledge in the most accurate form. Data, as usually understood in physics and chemistry, are numerical data representing He magnitudes of various quantities.... If we further include basic qualitative data such as the chemical structure of molecules, decay schemes of unstable nuclides, sequences of genes on chromosomes, etc., it may not be unrealistic to say that data constitute the reliable essence of scientific knowledge. In the social sciences emphasis is placed on sharing data to allow their use for secondary analysis in other words, for new research applications. In the other sciences it appears Mat heavier, although not exclusive, emphasis is placed on amassing data collections to serve as base-line data against which researchers can compare data that they have collected through their own ex- periments and observations. Individual researchers may deposit their data with a data center, but it is often to serve these base-line functions rather than to serve purposes of secondary analysis in the social science sense of the word. However, multiple research applications of data collections, in a fash- ion analogous to secondary analysis in the social sciences, does occur, most commonly in research areas in which costly and rare instrumentation is used for data collection. In these areas researchers cannot hope to consistently sat- isfy data needs through independent data collection. In areas in which data collection is easier and independent data collection is more consistently feasi- ble, data sharing appears less common, and replication of reported research findings often occurs Trough new and independent data collection efforts.

72 Jerome M. Clubb et al. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS It is likely that something approaching consensus exists, at least in many areas of the social sciences, to the effect that data should be shared and available to all researchers. Consensus is strongest about large data collections as- sembled at public expense and less strong about smaller bodies of data col- lected at individual expense. The proposition that primary investigators should, at a minimum, have first rights of analysis and publication is generally accepted. There is probably less agreement as to mechanisms for data shar- ing. In some disciplines the expectation seems to be that data will be shared through intermediary facilities; in others, sharing occurs, if at all, primarily through relatively small networks of researchers working in the same area, al- though it is probable that recognition of the value and advantages of data- sharing organizations is becoming more widespread. But even with this degree of acceptance of the principle of data sharing, a general norm of data sharing cannot be established and implemented by fiat. Changes in the attitudes of social scientists are required. While there is abun- dant evidence that the required change is taking place, the primary means to further change, particularly in the case of individual data collections, is moral suasion and demonstration of the value and scientific importance of sharing. There are also, however, more specific steps that could be taken to encourage and facilitate sharing. One such step might be endorsement by professional associations and other prestigious social science organizations of the obligation to share data. Endorsements of this sort might, moreover, include well-reasoned statements of the value of sharing, discussions of data-sharing mechanisms and proce- dures, and illustrative examples of research and instructional gains made possible by data sharing. Modest steps could also be taken to increase the incentives to share data. Citation practices could be improved to provide better recognition of original data collectors. Secondary analysts could be expected to provide complete citations of the data collections used and to acknowledge the original data col- lectors; journal editors might require such citations as a condition of publica- tion. Secondary analysts might also give greater attention to noting innova- tions, matters of quality, and design advantages of data collections they use. Modest recognition could also be accorded to original data collectors through newsletter and journal notes when data collections are deposited with a data- sharing organization or otherwise made available for secondary use. In more general terms, some reassessment of He bases for professional rewards Is probably in order. Design and execution of a major data collection effort is intellectually demanding, a creative accomplishment, and, when the product is shared with over researchers, a contribution to the development of scientif- ic knowledge Mat should be better recognized and rewarded than it now is.

Sharing Data in the Social Sciences 73 At least some of the existing disincentives to data sharing could be reduced if not eliminated. It is apparently true that support for research projects is sometimes sufficient for data collection but not completion of analysis and re- porting findings,~3 and, as a consequence, data sharing is slowed or avoided entirely. To overcome this difficulty more adequate funding would be desir- able to guarantee researchers the opportunity to reap the first fruits of their data collection. Research funding should also be adequate to support the costs involved in preparing and documenting data for use by others. Technical obstacles to data sharing could be reduced. As noted at several points above, basic standards for data preparation and documentation are available. If these were routinely followed, data could be more readily shared, and it is likely that project costs would not be increased. Standards for documenting study and sample design and for complex derived and GOm- posite measures and indexes and the like are less well developed and adhered to. It should be recognized that documentation of this sort is of central impor- tance to secondary analysis and a primary safeguard against erroneous or mis- taken use of data. A small step toward improvement of this form of docu- mentation could be taken by journal editors and peer reviewers. Requiring adequate documentation as a condition of publication would contribute to development of basic standards. Depositing data with data-shanng organizations would probably be prefer- able to exclusive reliance on informal data sharing, although depositing data with an organization does not preclude simultaneous informal sharing by the data collector. The advantages of data-shanng organizations are several: they remove the burdens of supplying data from original data collectors; they maintain data collections and so the cumulative and combinatorial values of data are more likely to be realized; and they cross disciplinary boundaries so that interdisciplinary use of data is facilitated. Data that threaten the privacy of individuals and the rights of organizations pose special problems. To reduce these problems the practice of removing names and other variables that would allow individuals to be identified should be consistently followed. This practice should be extended to include vari- ables that allow individuals to be identified through a triangulation process. In the case of some data collections, however, individuals and organizations are intrinsically identifiable and to allow nonnal access to these data would abridge confidentiality. Vanous means can be used to allow limited access to such data for purposes of replication and secondary analysis. These include swearing in and licensing researchers to prevent misuse and provision of cus- tom subsets and analyses that do not abridge confidentiality. Some of these same expedients might be employed in the case of proprietary data. Questions are often raised as to what data ought to be shared, and distinc- tions are sometimes drawn between different categories of data in terms of the

74 Jerome M. Clubb et al. importance of shanug. Rather Can begin with distinctions, it would be desir- able to begin with the principle that all data ought to be shared with the reser- vation of special and limited forms of access for data that threaten privacy and confidentiality. Certainly data collected by government agencies, to the ex- tent Cat questions of confidentiality and national interest are not present, should be readily and promptly available for research applications. The same rule should be followed for data collections commissioned for purposes of public policy and for performance evaluations. For these categories of data, it can be questioned whether delay of release to allow initial analysis and first rights of publication would be justifiable. Data collected by individual researchers and research groups should also be made available to others in timely fashion. Some delay of release of data a period of 1-2 years is often mentioned to allow researchers to carry out analysis and publication is justifiable. One step toward institutionalizing such a practice would be for journal editors to require as a condition of publi- cation that data be available to others. In the case of data collections sup- ported by government funding agencies, sponger action is possible. Item 754 of the National Science Foundation's Grant Policy Manual "Rights in Data Banks and Software," is a significant step toward stating a general norm of data shanng. The item is worm quoting in full (National Science Foundation, 1983:vii-16~: Unless otherwise provided in the grant letter, data banks and software produced with the assistance of NSF grants, having utility to others in addition to the grantee shall be made available to users, at no cost to the grantee, by publication or, on re- quest, by duplication or loan for reproduction by others. The investigator who pro- duced the data or software shall have the first right of publication. Grantees will be allowed a reasonable amount of time to make necessary corrections or additions to finite data banks that are incomplete or contain errors, ambiguities or distortions. Privileged or confidential intonation will be released only in a form that protects the rights of privacy of the individuals involved. Any dispute over the release or use of data or software will be referred to the Foundation for resolution. Any out of pocket costs incurred by the grantee in providing information to third parties may be charged to the third parW. The NSF statement has been in force, with some modifications, for over a decade and, along win numerous over Foundation actions, has done much to encourage and facilitate data sharing. She statement is strong, and it would be useful if, at a minimum, over research funding agencies would take a simi- lar position. Even so, Me statement falls short of the ideal. In the first place, it provides no guidelines as to We time of release. A primary investigator could delay release of data for half a decade, not an uncommon occurrence at

Sharing Data in the Social Sciences 75 present, and still be in technical compliance with the NSF policy. There is no statement as to the means by which data should be made available: willingness to supply copies if asked would be enough. There are also no provisions for special categories of data, except in the case of confidentiality, and the word- ing might suggest that the researcher need not provide any form of access to such data, although that is probably not the intent. Policy-relevant data and data of major concern to the research interests of large communities of schol- ars are not mentioned, and no reference is made to He technical form in which data would be released. There is also no indication of expectation that data would be conserved for any extended period to allow realization of the cumu- lative value of data collections. Obviously we cannot expect a policy Hat specifies precise procedures for all occasions. On the other hand, we might imagine a policy that asked re- searchers to include in proposals a dissemination plan indicating the time of release of data, the means by which the data would be made available and pre- served for long-term use, the technical form in which data would be released, the supporting documentation that would accompany He data, what forms of access to confidential or other sensitive data would be provided, and an as- sessment of He policy relevance and broad research value of the data. Peer reviewers could Hen judge the adequacy of the dissemination plan and sug- gest modifications.~4 Immediate release of data might be urged in cases of policy or broad research relevance. For agencies that commission data col- lections for policy evaluation, performance assessment, and the like, the re- quirement of immediate availability of data might be the norm. It may be worth noting in this respect that agencies that support development of ma- terials of broad scholarly utility—such as reference works, compilations, teaching aids, and the like usually require that statements of plans for dis- semination be included in proposals. The utility of guidelines such as these in contributing to improvement of data-sharing practices would, of course, depend on the capacity of peer re- viewers and agency officials to evaluate plans for dissemination. Here we have little to suggest. It is, after all, a matter of informing and convincing so- cial scientists and agency officials of the values of data sharing, of the avail- ability and utility of technical standards, of the need for long-term preserva- tion of data, of difficulties encountered in transferring data and of means to overcome them, of He advantages (and disadvantages) of data-sharing facili- ties, and of He advantages (and disadvantages) of informal data sharing. In our experience substantial progress in each of these respects has been made in recent years, and we expect that progress will continue. We have suggested throughout this paper various steps that would speed progress.

76 Jerome M. Clubb et al. NOTES 1. Some of the values of data sharing summarized here might be contested on the grounds that they rest on the notion that the development of scientific knowledge is a cumulative process; an alternative view might be that the development of scientific knowledge occurs through period- ic and in some degree unpredictable quantum jumps involving basically new breakthroughs and departures. Even if this is the case, however, it would seem to follow that since breakthroughs and new departures are unpredictable, the opportunity for more social scientists to card out meaningful research would increase their likelihood. 2. It is worm noting that the data used by Fogel and EngerTnan were made available to other scholars before their own analysis was completed and well before actual publication of Time on the Cross. 3. Lide (1981) calls attention to similar needs in the other sciences. 4. This difficulty is also suggested in a report to the Canada Council on survey research (Canada Council, 1976). 5. We can only ponder whether, at least in rare instances, willingness to cooperate with parti- cular researchers but not others reflects an assumption on the part of subjects that the research findings will be favorable or at least not unfavorable. 6. We do not discuss the practices followed by researchers to provide security for information that links identification numbers used in data collections to actual names and addresses. 7. In this paper, open access to data does not mean free access. Provision of access to data usually involves a cost to the provider, and it is legitimate to transfer that cost to recipients of the data. Organizations that provide access to data also face the costs of sustaining themselves. Hence charges over and above actual costs of providing data are sometimes necessary. 8. Most of the academically based data archives are linked through the International Federation of Data Organizations (IFDO) based at the Universities of Cologne and Milan, and less directly through standing committees of the International Association for Social Science Council of UNESCO. Many of them are also members of the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research. They are also linked through the International Association for Social Science Infonnation Service and Technology an international organization of individuals active in data organizations. 9. A number of the social science data archives mentioned above and in the appendix perform related functions beyond those of storing, processing, and disseminating machine-readable data. A few of them provide training in the use of data and related software (the ICPSR summer train- ing program in the theory and technology of social research is an example, and the Social Science Research Council Survey Research Archive at the University of Essex also has a program); many will perform custom data analysis upon request; and a few have developed computer software and can provide software as well as assistance in the selection and use of computational facilities for social science research. Catalogues and lists of data holdings are available on request. 10. Other centers are located in Tokyo and Zurich. The centers operate under principles esta- blished by the International Council of Scientific Unions, as does the Centre de Donnees Stellaires in Strasbourg, France, which provides similar services. The world centers and their ac- tivities are described in International Council of Scientific Unions (1979). 11. Facilities for data sharing in the sciences are highly diverse. Museums often perform` data-sharing functions through developing, maintaining, and providing access to specimens con- tained in their or known collections. One example is the automated herpetology collection of the Museum of Zoology at the University of Michigan: systematic info~,~ation on over 30O,000 spe- cimens of amphibians and reptiles has been encoded and stored in computer-readable form by the museum. The information is accessible to interested researchers through the use of the TAXIR interactive information storage and retrieval system, which uses the main University of Michigan computer system, and can be interrogated remotely by scholars located at sites throughout the

Sharing Data in the Social Sciences 77 country; for further information, see Van Devender ( 1978). 12. An entire issue of Gastroenterology in October 1979 was devoted to the National Cooperative Crohn's Disease Project and contains numerous other articles describing the project and its findings. 13. The prevalence of this difficulty is unknown; examples could be cited, however. and it is a frequent complaint of data collectors. 14. These suggestions follow recommendations made to the Canada Council by a special con- sultative group on survey research (Canada Council, 1976). The "Guide for Applicants'' of the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (1979), formerly the Canada Council, includes provisions similar to those of the National Science Foundation. APPENDIX SELECTED LISTING OF DATA-SHARING FACILITIES Behavioral Sciences Laboratory, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio 45921 Belgian Archives for the Social Sciences, Place Montesquieu, 1 Boite 18, B-1348 Louvain-la- Neuve, Belgium Bureau of Labor Statistics, Division of Planning and Financial Management, U.S. Department of Labor, 441 G Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20212 Latin American Population Data Bank, United Nations Latin American Demographic Center (CELADE), Casilla 91, Santiago, Chile Center for Quantitative Studies in Social Science, 1 17 Savery Hall, DK - 5, University off Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195 Center for Social Analysis, State University of New York, Binghamton, New York 139()1 Center for Social Sciences, Columbia University, 420 W. 1 1 8th Street, New York, New York 10027 Danish Data Archives, Odense University, Niels Bohrs Alle 25, K~5230 Odense M. Denmarl; Data and Program Library Service, 4451 Social Science Building, University of Wisconsin. Madison, Wisconsin 53706 Data Archives Library, Institute for Social Science Research, 1101 Gayley Center, 405 Hilcard Avenue, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90024 Data Bank, Institute for Behavioral Research, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Downsview. Ontano, Canada Data Library, 6356 Agricultural Road, Room 206, University Campus, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6T 1W5 Data Library, Survey Research Center, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720 Data Resources, Inc., 29 Hartwell Avenue, Lexington, Massachusetts 02173 Data User Service Division, Bureau of the Census, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington. D.C. 20233 Drug Abuse Epidemiology Data Center, Institute of Behavioral Research, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas 76129 DUALabs, Inc., 1601 N. Kent Street, Suite 900, Arlington, Virginia 22209 European Consortium for Political Research, Data Information Service, Fantoftvegen 38, N-5036 Fantoft-Bergen, Norway Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, P.O. Box 1248, Ann Arbor, Michigan 41806 Leisure Studies Data Bank, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G 1 Louis Harris Data Center, Manning Hall 026A, Institute for Research in Social Science, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514

78 Jerome M. Clubb et al. Machine-Readable Archives, Public Archives of Canada, 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A ON3 Machine-Readable Archives Division, (NNR), National Archives and Records Service, Washington, D C. 20408 National Center for Education Statistics, Data Systems Branch, 205 Presidential Building, 400 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20202 National Center for Health Statistics, Scientific and Technical Information Branch, Room 1-57 Center Building, 3700 East-West Highway, Hyattsville, Maryland 20782 National Center for Social Statistics, Office of Information Systems, Washington, D.C. 20201 National Opinion Research Center, University of Chicago, 6030 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60637 National Technical Information Service, U.S. Department of Commerce, 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, Virginia 22151 Northwestern University Information Center, Vogelback Computing Center, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60201 Norwegian Social Science Data Services, Universiteet i Bergen, Christiesgate 1~19, N-5014 Bergen-University, Norway Oklahoma Data Archive, Center for the Application of the Social Sciences, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma 74074 Polimetrics Laboratory, Department of Political Science, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210 Political Science Data Archive, Department of Political Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48823 Political Science Laboratory and Data Archive, Department of Political Science, 248 Woodburn Hall, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47401 Project Impress, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755 Project TALENT Data Bank, American Institutes for Research, P.O. Box 1113, Palo Alto, California 94302 Public Opinion Survey Unit, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri 65201 Roper Public Opinion Research Center, Box U-164R, University of Connecticut, Stores, Connecticut 06268 Social Data Exchange Association, 229 Waterman Street, Providence, Rhode Island 02906 Social Science Computer Research Institute, 621 Mervis Hall, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260 Social Science Data Archive, Laboratory for Political Research, 321A Schaeffer Hall, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52240 Social Science Data Archive, Survey Research Laboratory, 414 David Kinley Hall, Urbana, Illinois 61810 Social Science Data Archive, Box 596, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556 Social Science Data Archives, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Carleton University, Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1S SB6 Social Science Data Center, University of Connecticut, Stom, Connecticut 06268 Social Science Data Center, University of Pennsylvania, 353 McNeil Building, CR, 3718 Locust Walls, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104 Social Science Data Library, Manning Hall 026A, University of Norm Carolina, Chapel Hill, Norm Carolina 27514 Social Science User Service, Princeton University Computer Center, 87 Prospect Avenue, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 Social Security Administration, Office of Research and Statistics, Room 1120,, Universal North Building, 1875 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20009

Sharing Data in the Social Sciences SSRC Survey Archive, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, Essex, England State Data Program, 2538 Channing Way, University of Califomia, Berkeley, California 94720 State Government Data Base, Council of State Governments, Iron Works Pike, Lexington, Kentucky 40578 Statistics Canada, 1006-General Purpose Building, Ottawa, Ontano, Canada K1A OT6 Steinmetzarchief, Herengracht 41~12, 1017 BX Amsterdam, The Netherlands lithe United Nations Statistical Office, The United Nations, New York, New York 10017 Zentralarchiv fur empirische Sozialforschung, Universitaet zu Koeln, Bachemer Strasse 40, W5000 Koeln 41, West Germany REFERENCES AND SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 79 Bancroft, T.A. 1972 The statistical community and the protection of privacy. The American Statistician 26(4):1~16. Banks, A.S. 1973 Problems in the Use of Archival Data. Prepared for the Panel on Research Problems in Comparative Analysis, Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, May 1~17, New York. Benson, L. 1968 The empirical and statistical basis for comparative analysis of historical change. In Stein Rokkan, ea., Comparative Studies Across Cultures and Nations. Pans: Mouton. Bick, W., and Muller, P.J. 1980 The nature of process-produced data towards a social-scientific source cnticism. In Jerome M. Clubb and Erwin K. Scheuch, eds., Historical Social Research: The Use of Historical and Process-Produced Data. Stuttgart, Germany: Klett-Cotta. Bisco, R., ed. 1970 Data Bases, Computers, arid the Social Sciences. New York: Wiley-Interscience. Bogue, A.G. 1976 The historian and social science data archives in the United States. American Behavioral Scientist 19:419 442. Bond, K. 197g Confidentiality and the protection of human subjects in social science research. The American Sociologist 13(3):144. Bomch, R.F. 1972 Strategies for eliciting and merging confidential social research data. Policy Sciences 3(3):275-297. Bomch, R.F., and Reis, J. 1978 An illustrative project on secondary analysis. Pp. 88-111 in R.F. Boruch and P.M. Wortman, eds., New Directions for Program Evaluation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Boruch, R.~., and Wortrnan, P.M. 1978 An illustrative project on secondary analysis. New Directions for Program Evaluation 4:8~1 10. Bowers, W.l., and Pierce, G.L. 1975 The illusion of deterrence in Isaac Ehrlich's research on capital punishment. Yale Law Journal 85:185-208. Bowman, R.T. 1970 The idea of a federal statistical data center its purpose and structure. Pp. 63 69 in Ralph L. Bisco, ea., Data Bases, Computers, and the Social Sciences. New York: Wiley Interscience.

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