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Set up

Description

During Set up, the research is conceptualised, planned and funded. This stage highlights the environment in which dataset creation will happen, as the research question, mission and values will be defined and data collection practices outlined. At this stage, you are thinking about dataset creation as a potential method and/or output for your research, but are not actively undertaking creation yet - this stage merely sets the scene for it.

Describe your project beginnings.

→ Write your Data Management Plan, Ethical Commitments and Mission Statement
→ Document your answers to questions regarding project conceptualisation. This will both be a guide as well as a place of reflection throughout your research.

Tasks

Identify a Research Topic

When undertaking this task, what should you consider?

Positionality

  • How does the social, political, economic, cultural, academic context you are embedded in impact your choice of research?
  • Are there policies/guidelines within your institution that are relevant to your project – if so, which ones?1

Silences

  • What gaps exist in current research?
  • What gaps are you trying to fill in your research? Time period, geography, actors, concepts?
  • What is your primary source data and what are its advantages and shortcomings?

Representation

  • Who is represented in the scholarship and sources that are used? And who is not represented?

Impact

  • Who do the scholarship and/or research projects currently impact positively and/or negatively, and in what way? In terms of accessibility (digital divide), representation, use of language?

What are good practices in relation to this task?

  • Reflect on these questions as part of project conceptualization.
  • Document discussions held, research done and decisions made for future reference.
  • Have your research be led by social justice values and positive societal impact - however your project may define these.2
  • Ensure your research question(s) are shaped by the availability and content of sources. Heavily biased sources can be the best resources for one research question, but totally unfit to answer another.

Resources

Further websites with helpful guiding questions and toolkits to consider before the start of your research:

Write Funding Proposals

When undertaking this task, what should you consider?

Positionality

  • How does the social, political, economic, cultural, academic context you are embedded in impact what topics of research are receiving funding? In what way are you aligning your research to this?
  • Does your institution have in-house expertise on writing successful funding proposals? How does this impact your position?

Recruitment

  • Will your recruitment practices be inclusive?

Collaboration

  • In what way could you work with affected communities?
  • In what way could you collaborate with specialist academics/researchers to mitigate potential biases in your research?

Representation

  • Who is and who is not represented in your research funding outline?

Impact

  • Who would your research impact positively and/or negatively, and in what way? In terms of agenda, accessibility (digital divide), representation, use of language?

What are good practices in relation to this task?

  • Include ethical considerations into your proposal, whether or not this is asked for. Show the funding agency that alongside their own mission, ethical considerations are necessary and urgent to think about.

  • Speak about how will you allocate money to the combatting of bias (e.g. extra personnel, part of research is on ethics issues, pot of money for collaboration, widen theme of research or source base as an attempt to combat bias)

  • Actively pursue the allocation of money to collaborate with affected communities. Ensure enough money is set aside for all aspects of community engagement (monetary remuneration for expertise; cultivating sense of community between collaborators/citizen scientists4). Also consider whether you can create sustainable networks that will contribute to the setting up of future projects.

  • Focus on the creation of a diverse and inclusive project and team.

Resources

Write a Data Management Plan (DMP)

Description: A DMP is a roadmap for good data management at every stage of research. It is a living document that will reflect changes and updates made to your research.

When undertaking this task, what should you consider?

FAIR

  • How do you plan to publish FAIR data?
  • Do you foresee any issues with aligning your project with the FAIR principles? Why?

Impact

  • In what way would your data harm other persons and the environment? 3

Ownership

  • Who (legally) owns the data you will produce?
  • How will you acknowledge data contributors and sources?

Durability

  • How will you ensure your data remains FAIR in the future, after the project ends?
  • What preservation strategies will you implement for long-term accessibility?
  • Who will maintain the dataset once the project ends?

Privacy

  • How will your research data be stored safely? Is there need for anonymisation?

What are good practices in relation to this task?

  • Follow online guidelines/templates for writing DMPs. Your institute may already have a template/guidelines that you can use.

  • Use your envisioned dataset documentation templates to guide writing your DMP. This ensures dataset documentation is considered throughout the dataset creation process and allows for more efficient documentation.

  • Use the FAIR Implementation Profile questionnaire to guide writing your DMP, specifically with regards to what specifications to consider to make your dataset FAIR compliant.

  • Include how harm to other beings and the environment can be identified and mitigated in a timely manner.5

  • Include versioning into your DMP to encourage regular re-evaluation during the project.

Resources

Take a look at your institutional (faculty, department) guidelines and/or Code of Conducts regarding DMPs. Below are external resources that may be helpful:

Write Ethical Commitments

When undertaking this task, what should you consider?

Positionality

  • How does the social, political, economic, cultural, academic context you are embedded in relate to advancing social justice?
    • Are you conducting research from a position of historical privilege? (For example, are you based in a former colonial power studying colonized regions?) How can you then use the benefits of your context to advance the deconstruction of existing power structures?

Transparency

  • Do you have any ethical concerns about the research? Think of:
    • What accessibility barriers might your research create or reinforce?
    • How might your research methodologies perpetuate existing inequalities?

What are good practices in relation to this task?

  • Use the format: We acknowledge [injustice]. We are committed to [action to lessen the burden of injustice]. This provides a succinct overview for readers to know what you stand for and how your actions will reflect this.6

  • Include your gut-feelings about the project, including concerns.7

  • Add positionality statements to your Ethical Commitments, clearly communicating to your audience your awareness of the context you work in and what you benefit from.8

  • Include versioning into your Ethical Commitments to encourage regular re-evaluation during the project.

Resources

Examples of Ethical Commitments:

Write a Mission Statement

Description: A mission statement articulates your project’s purpose, values, and approach. It serves as both an internal compass and a public declaration of your research intentions, ethical stance, and expected outcomes.

When undertaking this task, what should you consider?

Transparency

  • How active will your intervention be?
  • Who will your research impact positively/negatively?
  • What is the proposed outcome of the research? Could there be unintended uses and/or consequences?
  • What values drive your work and how are they reflected in your work?
  • Are there any accessibility restrictions?

What are good practices in relation to this task?

  • Reflect on all questions above and incorporate answers, ideas and concerns into your mission statement. This will ensure expectation management for collaborators and audiences.

  • Outline values/research philosophy that drive your research

    • For example: Community, Trust and Time, Knowledge (Co-)Production, Redistribution, Accountability, Interrogating Power, Imagination.10

  • Discuss how active your ethical intervention will be.

    • For example:
      Contentious language will not be included as preflabels in published datasets, but will feature in public user interface (Globalise).
      Contentious language will feature in public user interface, but with a caveat box providing context (Slave Voyages).
      Contentious language will be retained for the historicity of sources, but alternative terms will be used to write about the sources (Historical Database of Suriname and Caribbean).

  • Include any parts of your research that should be contextualised up front: use of contentious categories, naming, terms, and/or keywords; errors that may be found; choices for use of specific language over others.9

  • Outline predicted outputs.

  • Outline imagined use of your research (data).

    • Also include imagines accessibility restrictions (e.g. data can only be accessed onsite, or with an account).
    • Also include restrictions, in terms of licensing.11

  • Include ways for audiences (both academic and broader) to contact, engage with and/or provide feedback to the project.

  • Include versioning into your Mission Statement to encourage regular re-evaluation during the project.

  • Acknowledge that responsible research will always evolve, and is therefore never-ending (even after project end). Manage expectations regarding this in your mission statement.

Resources

Take a look at your institutional (faculty, department) guidelines and/or Code of Conducts regarding DMPs. Below are external resources that may be helpful:

Examples of Mission Statements:

  1. Adapted from Dataschool Utrecht, DEDA Dataschool (2022). ↩

  2. Adapted from Educational Innovation Erasmus University Rotterdam, Positionality (accessed 21 August 2025). ↩

  3. Adapted from RDMkit, Ethical aspects (accessed 21 August 2025). ↩

  4. For example, as Historical Database of Suriname en the Caribbean (HDSC) have done. ↩

  5. Adapted from RDMkit, Ethical aspects (accessed 21 August 2025). ↩

  6. See for reference: On These Grounds, Ethical Commitments (accessed 21 August 2025). ↩

  7. Adapted from Dataschool Utrecht, DEDA Dataschool (2022). ↩

  8. From conversations with Globalise; Kelly and Vicky Breemen, forthcoming publication. ↩

  9. Adapted from Jaap Kunst Sound Collection, Methodology (accessed 21 August 2025). ↩

  10. Adapted from DAIR Institute, Our Reseach Philosophy (2022). ↩

  11. Adapted from Jaap Kunst Sound Collection, Uses (accessed 21 August 2025). ↩