Managing Personal Data in Qualitative Research

Under the auspices of the Digital Research Infrastructure for Arts and Humanities (DARIAH) and the SPOZNAJ project, the workshop Managing Personal Data in Qualitative Research was successfully held at ZRC SAZU on Thursday, 23 January 2025. The workshop was aimed at researchers who use qualitative methods such as interviews and focus groups in their work and who face challenges of personal data protection.

The lecturers, who shared their experiences with the researchers were Ms. Irena Vipavc Brvar and Dr Sonja Bezjak from the Social Science Data Archive, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana. They presented the binding legislation, what constitutes personal data and what researchers need to think about before starting the fieldwork. They paid special attention to the processing of transcripts, which often constitute a key handout for researchers and are kept in various forms.

The practical work focused on the procedures for anonymising transcripts, analysing concrete examples of personal data that researchers encounter in their research. This allowed us to gain valuable experience and concrete guidelines to improve the handling of data in line with legal and ethical requirements.