Our project

This survey is a consensus-generation exercise run by the Open Data Institute  (ODI) that aims to help people and organisations begin to agree on what should and shouldn't be considered 'public data' and establish early-stage guidelines for use. Where consensus cannot be generated, this project will document where views diverge and outline potential next steps to address concerns raised and differing viewpoints. It is part of a broader programme of work around Global Data Infrastructure. 

This survey aims to understand researchers' perspectives on what constitutes public data and its ethical and fair use. We believe it will be useful to help people and organisations begin to agree on what should and shouldn't be considered 'public data' and establish early-stage principles for use.

The survey consists of 74 statements about public data - what it is, how it should be defined, and what qualifies as fair use and collection of public data. Specifically, there are seven sections: Definition of public data, Use of public data, Ethics, Data Governance, Training and infrastructure, Reporting and transparency, Quality and inference.

The anonymous statements are meant to stimulate discussion and identify areas of alignment and disagreement between groups. Respondents are encouraged to approach each statement with an open mind, considering their personal viewpoints and experiences.

When answering the survey, respondents are kindly requested to consider each of the 74 statements and respond by noting the degree to which they agree with that statement. Responses will be recorded on a Likert scale from 1 to 5, with 1 representing "Strongly disagree" and 5 representing "Strongly agree". If some respondents don't feel qualified to answer any of the following statements, they will have the option to skip them.

Each section ends with an optional long-form text box where participants are encouraged to write out the reasons or evidence supporting their responses. Because this survey is meant to identify areas of agreement and disagreement, these written responses will be invaluable in understanding the reasoning behind the Likert responses. Responding to these long-form text boxes is optional but encouraged. Respondents are welcome to respond to as many or as few as they feel necessary. After the responses have been collected, the research team will analyse them, and a summary will be sent to the respondents outlining the quantitative findings of the Likert responses, along with a thematic analysis of the reasoning and evidence provided by respondents within the long-form text boxes. The summary will be anonymous and will not reveal identifiable information about the respondents - it will only be the aggregate responses and summarised thematic analysis.

Respondents will be encouraged to read the summary of the first round of responses and contemplate where their views align with or diverge from those of their fellow respondents. In particular, respondents are encouraged to read the analyses of the reasoning and evidence submitted to the long-form text boxes to understand the reasoning supporting the views of their fellow respondents. Respondents will then be asked to respond to the same list of 74 statements for a second round and update their responses if their views have changed in response to the views and evidence provided by their fellow respondents. Respondents will once again be able to write out their views and evidence in the long-form text boxes.

After this second round of responses, the research team will once again analyse and summarise the group's responses and send them to the respondents.Responding to the entire survey should take between 30 and 60 minutes.

Thank you for agreeing to respond to this survey about 'public data'!

Sincerely, the Open Data Institute Research Team

How your data will be used

The data collected will be used to produce one output about the perceptions of public data and its ethical/fair use and collection across two different communities: an open-source investigation collective and a global scraping community. The piece will be published on the ODI's Medium account, Canvas. We will also use the results of this survey to help inform the curriculum for future iterations of Delphi surveys conducted by the ODI exploring public data. We will release an aggregated, de-identified summary of the responses to the Likert scale statements and an anonymous thematic analysis of the text boxes.

At the end of the survey, you will be asked whether you consent to the release of your response. The following information will not be shared with anyone other than the project team.