Introducing the Irish Qualitative Data Archive: Spotlight on Archiving Reproductive Health (Online)

This course is part of the Timescapes 10 Festival and the delegate fee includes access to the wide range of events that are taking place across the two weeks of the Festival.

This half day short course will introduce delegates to the opportunities for qualitative secondary analysis (QSA) offered by the Irish Qualitative Data Archive and the Digital Repository of Ireland.  It will focus on two themes:

• Opportunities for the creation of cross-national data assemblages for QSA
• Reflection on some challenges associated with sharing and re-using potentially traumatising data and Facebook data.

The course will spotlight the innovative Archiving Reproductive Health collection.  Funded by the Wellcome Trust, this uniquely broad collection focuses on the 2015 referendum to liberalise access to abortion in Ireland. The collection includes interviews with activists and doctors. Organisational data has been donated by some of the main groups campaigning for increased access to abortion, including a wide collection of pro-choice artists work. Other collections include a database of tweets from the referendum period, a collection of posts from the InHerShoes Facebook page and a collection of images of posters and streets in the time period leading up to the referendum. The addition of interviews conducted in twenty years leading up to the referendum and in the years after the referendum add to the longitudinal perspective of this social movement for change.

Course Description

 

The course is scheduled for the afternoon of 14th September, during which you will:

• Learn about data collections available for re-use in IQDA
• Identify opportunities for working across datasets, including through construction of cross-national data assemblages
• Learn about the innovative Archiving Reproductive Health Collection
• Identify opportunities for working across datasets within the Archiving Reproductive Health Collection
• Engage with questions about sharing and re-using potentially traumatising data
• Learn about some of the challenges of archiving Facebook data

 

Through the presentations and discussions, you will develop practical skills in:

• Accessing qualitative social science data through the Digital Repository of Ireland
• Exploring research questions for cross-national QSA
• Constructing cross-national data assemblages
• Addressing challenges in working with sensitive data
• Addressing challenges in working with Facebook data

 

By the end of the course participants will:

• Be familiar with data collections available for re-use in the Irish Qualitative Data Archive
• Understand how to access datasets through the Digital Repository of Ireland
• Understand the potential to construct cross-national qualitative data assemblages
• Have a preliminary understanding of how to address challenges working with sensitive data
• Have a preliminary understanding of how to address challenges working with Facebook data

 

The workshop is suitable for qualitative researchers at any career stage.