Research Data Management and Sharing Practices of Researchers in Web Archive Studies
Not enough Research Data Management studies have been conducted in either the humanities or the Digital Humanities that present a well-developed understanding of the nature of data in these disciplines, or the appropriate management thereof. There is also a critical lack of Research Data Management and data sharing support provided to researchers in these fields.
In response to these concerns, a case study of the digital humanities field of Web Archive Studies was conducted which investigated data management and sharing in the field.
The study explored the nature of data, and the current RDM and data sharing practices of Web
Archive Studies researchers. It endeavoured to answer the following research questions: (1)
‘What kinds of data do Web Archive Studies researchers generate and work with?’; (2) ‘What
RDM and data sharing practices do these researchers tend to use?’; and (3) ‘What challenges and limitations do they encounter when collecting, managing, and sharing data?’. The study was exploratory in nature and used a convergent mixed methods approach based within an interpretive paradigm. A semi-structured interview (using predominantly open-ended
questions) was conducted with a key informant selected because of their experience working with web archive research data, and a questionnaire of predominantly multiple-choice questions
was distributed internationally among Web Archive Studies researchers. A content analysis approach was used to analyse qualitative data, while quantitative data were interpreted using inferential statistics. The study found that Web Archive Studies researchers tend to manage their data proficiently. The biggest gaps in their current practices concern data sharing in formal repositories due to challenges like legal restrictions. Additional findings revealed a lack of funding for Research