When you develop your data collection plan, remember to consider if there are any sensitive elements. For example, a public health research project might have data on human participants which need to be anonymised. Of course, fully informed consent must be obtained from the people whose data you are collecting. Another example is that the precise location data for endangered species might be shown at lower spatial resolution when initially published. In any case, the original raw data should still be archived.

The Citizen Science Association has a wealth of resources on planning the collection and management of citizen science data in their Data Quality Resource Compendium. There is a currently ongoing effort developing Trustworthy Data Practices in Citizen Science that addresses this topic (among other data considerations). They also have a webinar on the topic of ethical considerations for citizen science, and the EU-Citizen.Science platform hosts the course "Research integrity, ethics and the SDGs within the context of citizen science (RIECS)" which is relevant.

Do you work with sensitive data? How might you anticipate and handle the ethical considerations?

Last modified: Wednesday, 20 October 2021, 3:31 PM