It is also possible to make use of data collected by other researchers. From the student's point of view, ready-made materials can, for example, speed up the completion of a thesis. Even in the use of finished research material, good scientific practice must be remembered. Follow the terms of the license attached to the research material or other terms of use. Research articles may also include information on the availability and use of the data attached to the article (so-called Data availability statement)
Why should research data be cited?
Research data is a source of information as are other sources. Research data must be cited to, just like other sources, in order for the original researcher who produced and collected the research data to be taken into account. By citing to the data, you thus give merit to the original producer of the material and make the material you use findable and your research verifiable.
How should research data be cited?
When citing to data, the same practices are followed as when citing to publications. The citations should include at least the author, the name of the material, the year of publication, the publisher, the version and the availability information, i.e. the permanent identifier of the data. Please note that several archives have their own reference guidelines and also, e.g., publishers' regulations can affect the way of reference.
Citation in publication references when the datasets have named authors:
Iltanen, Sonja: Clothing Design for Ageing Women - Interviews 2001-2002 [computer file]. FSD2381, version 1.0 (2009-01-13). Tampere: Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor], 2007. http://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2381
Citation in publication references when the datasets have no named authors:
Sociobarometer 1994 [computer file]. FSD1129, version 1.0 (2002-03-11). Helsinki: Finnish Federation for Social Welfare and Health [producer], 1994. Tampere: Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor], 2002. http://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD1129
In-text citation
Within text, electronic data sources are cited with the author's last name. If there is no author named, dataset title is used. Data collection year is included in the citation.
Over 80% think that climate change is wholly or mainly the result of human activity (Ekholm et. al. 2006).
Over 40% take part in physical activities daily or several times a week (ISSP 2007: Leisure Time and Sports: Finnish Data).
Examples used as well as more examples can be found on Finnish Social Science Data Archive website
Citing research data
You can search and browse for information on research materials published in the Finnish research system with the help of Etsin.
You can start a wider search from international sources by first searching the relevant archive or storage service, where you can then continue to search for materials: Re3data (Registry of Research Data Repositories) is a directory where you can browse storage services by discipline, country, or content type.
You can also make use of reference databases, which are used to extract metadata from data storage archives
Data publications contain a description of the research material. They include, among other things, data collection and analysis methods. Data publication gives more visibility to research and is considered a merit, as well as a scientific article.
