Guidebook: Sharing field notes

Leiden Repository (Leiden University)

Abstract

This guidebook was developed following a training workshop called 'Sharing Field Notes' held at Leiden University on 26 May 2025. This workshop was one of three thematic workshops that addressed different elements of hard-to-share data in the social sciences and humanities. About the guide: Recent years have seen a surge in efforts to make academic research more open as well as FAIR - findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable - for humans as well as machines (Wilkinson et al., 2016). While practices to increase the FAIRness of data are increasingly common, some of these can be harder to adopt in disciplines that rely on qualitative research methods such as the social sciences and humanities. In light of promoting FAIRness in these domains, this guide tackles one specific methodological tool in qualitative research: field notes. Field notes are written data used to capture observations and research context. They form the ‘raw’ or primary data and/or essential contextualisation in different types of qualitative research in disciplines like archaeology, sociology, and cultural anthropology. They can vary from handwritten, completely unstructured text in a notebook, to manually or digitally filled out forms. What they have in common is that they form the, mostly descriptive, original observations or the context of the research. As such, sharing field notes is important for research integrity and the verification of results. However, field notes are often not shared for various reasons and there is very little practical advice on how to share them. This guide addresses this gap by giving an overview of best practices for sharing and publishing field notes and practical guidelines for doing so. The guide includes sections on: An introduction to field notes (what are their characteristics and how are they used) When to share or not share field notes Legal and ethical prerequisites for sharing field notes How to prepare field notes for publication Related materials: Flohr, P., van den Berk, M., Roodhof, A., Verheijen, J., Bruil, M., Thorpe, D.E. (2025), ‘Workshop - Sharing Field Notes’. Zenodo.https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15600311 The other workshops in this series of training workshops on 'hard-to-share data in the social sciences and humanities' are listed below and also generated two accompanying guidebooks: Thorpe, D. E., van den Berk, M., Flohr, P., van der Meer, L., Hesam, A., Campbell, R., & Oberheim, F. (2025, May 6). Workshop on Hard to Share Data in the Social Sciences and Humanities and using the Secure ANalysis Environment (SANE). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15302953 Thorpe, D. E. et al. (2025). 'Guidebook: Hard-to-Share Data in the Social Sciences and Humanities', Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17588795 Lushaj, B., Gelens, T., Magraw, J.-Y., Mos, A., Baloum, R.-C., & Hati Gitundu, (Beatrice) B. (2025). Workshop on The Ethics of Sharing Fieldwork Data and the CARE Principles. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15629394 Lushaj, Bora et al. (2025). ‘The Ethics of Sharing Fieldwork Data and the CARE Principles’, Zenodo. Reserved DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17588886 Acknowledgements: This publication was part of the project ‘Beyond personal data: a new initiative to support early-career researchers with hard-to-share data’ with file number ICT.TDCC.001.002, which is (partly) financed by the Dutch Research Council (NWO) via the Thematic Digital Competence Centre Social Sciences & Humanities (TDCC-SSH). We would like to thank the invited speakers and the participants of the workshop, as well as the contributors and reviewers of this guide.

Authors 4

1. Pascal Flohr Aachen

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Leiden University

2. Anna M. Roodhof

   Wageningen University & Research

   Affiliation as printed

   Wageningen University & Research

3. Michelle van den Berk
4. Hannah DeLacey