How do users search for data?

3 June 2020

Reusing data created by others holds great promise in research, but little is known about how users actually search for data.

Data archives play a crucial role in mediating access to so-called secondary data. Little is known, however, about how users actually search for data. What are their motivations? For what purpose do they need data? Where do they look? Which kind of data do they seek? The article ‘Lost or found? Discovering data needed for researchprovides insights about the data needs of researchers.

The research data are openly available at the DANS-EASY data archive: Gregory, K.M. (Data Archiving and Networked Services) (2020): Data Discovery and Reuse Practices in Research. This article was written by Kathleen Gregory, M.A., MSLIS, PhD candidate working on project Re-SEARCH and member of the DANS Research & Innovation Group. This article was translated into Dutch.

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This article is published in the June-edition of E-data & Research. Read the other articles on the websiteYou can request a free subscription to E-data & Research online. For questions or suggestions for articles, please contact the editors via . The following E-data & Research will appear in October.

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