Open Questionnaire for Research Data Sharing Survey IG Charter Statement

Name of Proposed Interest Group:

Interest Group on an Open Questionnaire for Research Data Sharing Survey

Introduction (A brief articulation of what issues the IG will address, how this IG is aligned with the RDA mission, and how this IG would be a value-added contribution to the RDA community):

The open data landscape is changing rapidly and we are only beginning to understand the impact of policies and changes in researchers’ practice. As open data policies are implemented and data sharing practices evolve, comprehensive benchmarking and tracking of open data practices can serve to illuminate advances in data sharing (where and by whom) and help to understand the reasons for different data sharing practices. Various survey reports have examined the gap between policy and daily research practices and how they might be bridged but the granularity and coverage of surveys needs addressing as open data practices vary widely between scientific disciplines and regions. In addition existing surveys differ widely by their questions and by respondent groups. The RDA community, inclusive of researchers, practitioners, and decision-makers would benefit from a coordinated, common open survey approach that could be adopted and implemented to track changes in practice and policy overtime.

Following a successful BoF session at the RDA 10^th Plenary Meeting, we would like to initiate an Interest Group to 1. develop a community-designed modular and interoperable open survey(s) questionnaire(s); 2. determine how such open survey(s) can be implemented; and 3. Explore how the open survey(s) results could be analyzed globally.

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