This post has been authored by End User Satisfaction Interest Group members Sophia Lafferty-Hess, Hoa Luong, Wanda Marsolek, and Sarah Wright.
EDIT: The slides and recording for this webinar are now accessible. Thanks to all who attended!
What is the impact of data curation? Do curated datasets have greater measurable value than non-curated datasets? How do researchers perceive the importance and value of the work performed by data curators?
These are questions members of the Data Curation Network have been investigating. Through funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, we have been researching from different perspectives the value data curation provides. Members of the DCN conducted two surveys, one focusing on the repository managers and one on the researchers’ perspectives.
Previously we shared some preliminary results alongside our survey instrument and resultant dataset. We are excited to share that in November 2023, we published “Understanding the value of curation: A survey of researcher perspectives of data curation services from six US institutions,” available at https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0293534.
The results overwhelmingly demonstrate what we felt all along: researchers value the work of data curators.
We also heard through qualitative responses the unique perspective that curators bring to the data sharing process. One researcher stated that:
“The data curation was helpful in that it forced me to consider the viewpoint of the end user of the data. The curators nudged me to add pieces that would help third parties navigate the data (e.g. readme file)… In retrospect this is a good thing; at the time I was focused on getting my thesis chapter out and published, and didn’t pay attention to these aspects as much as I needed to.”
We are excited to share that we will be using this study and results to host a webinar on April 10, from 4-5pm Eastern. Registration is required, though there is no cap on the number of attendees. This will be an active webinar– so plan to participate!
Congratulations to the authors of this piece, and we look forward to seeing you virtually on April 10!