Beyond “Data Thrifting”: An Investigation of Factors Influencing Research Data Reuse In the Social Sciences

The development of e-Research infrastructure has enabled data to be shared and accessed more openly. Policy mandates for data sharing have contributed to the increasing availability of research data through data repositories, which create favorable conditions for the reuse of data for purposes not always anticipated by original collectors. Despite the current efforts to promote transparency and reproducibility in science, data reuse cannot be assumed, nor merely considered a “thrifting ” activity where scientists shop around in data repositories considering only the ease of access to data. This research was driven by three main questions: 1) What are the factors that influence scientists ’ research data reuse? 2) To what degree do these factors influence scientists’ research data reuse? and 3) To what extent do scientists reuse research data? Following a sequential mixed-method approach, this study sought to provide a more nuanced view of the underlying factors that affect social scientists ’ intentions to reuse data, as well as the impact of these factors on the actual reuse of data. Findings from a preliminary small-scale exploratory study with 13 social scientists produced 25 factors that were found to influence their perceptions and experiences, including both their unsuccessful and successful attempts to reuse data. These factors were grouped into six theoretical variables: perceived benefits, perceived risks, perceived effort, social influence, facilitating conditions, and perceived reusability. The variables were articulated in a conceptua