Making Qualitative Research Material Reusble: Case in Finland

Arja Kuula and Mari Kleemola
Research Officers
FSD Finnish Social Science Data

Social sciences in Finland have a long and continuous tradition in
qualitative research. A great amount of significant qualitative material
has been collected during the last few decades. Until now there has been
no systematic way to preserve, index or catalogue qualitative social science
research material in Finland.

Finnish Social Science Data Archive (FSD) was founded in 1999. Already in
the planning stage attention was paid also to qualitative social science
research material. This kind of material is not archived by FSD, but one
of our goals is to improve access to it and facilitate the re-use of
qualitative research material.

Our paper will present FSD's strategies regarding this goal. The
Strategies comprise the following elements:
- developing and maintaining an information database on Finnish qualitative
research material that is reusable for academic research and teaching purposes,
- developing documentation standards,
- cooperation with Finnish qualitative data producers and collectors like
academic research projects, the Finnish Literature Society etc., and
- international cooperation with organisations that share similar objectives.


--------------
Arja Kuula is a Research Officer in Finnish Social Science Data Archive.
She has worked as a researcher at the Work Research Center and at the
Department of Sociology and Social Psychology at the University of
Tampere. She has published several articles and a book concerning
methodological issues and the role of researcher in research and
development projects. Her areas of interest are qualitative data, research
culture and methodological issues.