Working with third-party research data

If you did not collect or create the research data yourself, but instead plan to use existing data obtained from another source (third-party data), you will need to understand and comply with any terms of use under which the data may be used and shared.

Examples of third-party data

• Data from online repositories
• Data provided by project collaborators
• Data from social media platforms

1. Check the quality

Investigate the data sources to ascertain that they can be used for the intended purposes.

• Is the research purpose or hypothesis well documented?
• Is the creation of the data clearly documented?
• Which data collection or survey tools were used? What parameters or settings were used?
• Has the data been processed after it was created or collected? If yes, how were missing values handled?
• Is there accurate description or documentation of data variables? Is the data able to be understood and interpreted?
• Do I understand all the information, and does it appear consistent?
• Is the source of the data credible and trustworthy?

2. Check licenses and understand how the data can be used

Ensure you understand how the data will be used and what, if any, conditions of use apply (the licence for a data source or the terms of use granted by the data provider).

• If you are obtaining data from an external source or collaborators, seek advice on data-sharing agreements.
• Plan how it will be processed (how you will manipulate, clean, or otherwise process it to make it suitable for your own purposes).
• Plan what will happen to it when your research ends (e.g. secure disposal, sharing modified or derived datasets in a data repository). You must not share research data if you do not have the rights to do so.
• Create a list of key data sources you will use along with the terms of use for each source, and whether the data will be solely consulted or if it to be incorporated into new datasets or used to derived new datasets that you plan to archive and share.
• If you cannot archive and share the data you have reused, you should keep detailed documentation to enable others to reproduce your findings.

3. If you reuse data, cite it.

• Go to the University QuickCite guide to referencing data.

Research Data Support Services
Email: researchdata@auckland.ac.nz