How QDR can help you
QDR is equipped to facilitate qualitative and multi-method data sharing as required by the 2023 NIH Data Management and Sharing Policy. QDR’s infrastructure meets all federal criteria for data repositories and has been continuously certified as a trusted digital repository by CoreTrustSeal, the most widely accepted peer certification of data repositories. On this page you can find resources and tools to use when drafting an NIH Data Management and Sharing Plan (DMSP).
Our experienced curators will:
- Help you think through data management and sharing for your NIH project proposal;
- Review your DMSP prior to your application (please allow one week for review).
- Curate, archive, and disseminate the data collected during your project once you are ready to share them.
The best time to contact us is while you are preparing your grant application; if possible, share a preliminary draft of your DMSP and the title and one-paragraph summary of your proposal for a free review and consultation.
What data does QDR accept?
QDR will generally accept and publish projects that contain qualitative data and study the social world, broadly defined (e.g., QDR does not accept animal studies or MRI imaging). More details are provided in our Collection Development and Appraisal Policy. In rare cases, we may also have concerns related to the size of a project or the ethics of making a project available at all.
Template language
We offer some template language for inclusion into DMSPs – please make sure to contact us prior to using this language in a proposal so that we can consult with you on the fit of your data for QDR and a quote to include in your grant budget. On the same page, you can also find some suggested language to use during informed consent to make sure participants are aware of and consent to your plans to share
Access controls
All human-participant data available through QDR requires users to log in and accept standard conditions that prohibit attempts to re-identify participants as well as re-publication or commercial use of the data. Additionally, when depositing data that contain sensitive and / or personal information, researchers can work with QDR curators to formulate the optimal level conditions under which other researchers can access and use the data. QDR offers a range of access controls, which can be applied in a fine-grained manner on the file level.
Costs
To cover the costs of our labor and storage, QDR charges a one-time deposit fee for your project, which you can include into your grant budget. We will give you a quote based on your description of your project. The cost for a typical qualitative study (e.g., 40-100 interviews) is US$1,250. Deposit fees for smaller projects can be lower. Projects that require large amounts of curation labor or the storage of large volumes of data (over 20GB) are quoted higher deposit fees.
Institutional membership
Even if your institution has an institutional membership with QDR, we strongly recommend you budget for your QDR deposit as part of your grant: given the time horizon of a typical grant, the membership may have lapsed by the time of your deposit or your institution may run out of curation slots. We do discount quotes for data deposits included in grants by current institutional members by 20% (so a ‘typical’ project would be US$1,000 instead of $1,250) and will honor these quotes even if your institution is no longer a member at the time of deposit.
IRB/Informed consent
As a condition of publishing data from human-participant studies, QDR requires that participants were informed about and explicitly consented to sharing the data. Appropriate language for consent will vary depending on your study and QDR does not require any particular phrasing or language. We are happy to consult with you on language and procedures for consent and also provide some template language you can draw from.
Working with your library/research data services
Most universities have data librarians and/or research data service groups that will assist you in preparing DMSPs. We strongly recommend you to take advantage of their services – they have a lot of experience and know procedures and resources on your campus. At QDR, we are happy to co-consult with any local data services that you use.