Description:

One of the main challenges for social science today is constantly adjusting data management to the new demands of open science, critical academic stances for sharing information, and dynamic digital infrastructures (Clark, et al., 2018; King, 2011). In this context, qualitative researchers often rely on ethical languages and research tools that are disconnected from this transformation, prioritizing the protection of subjects through Institutional Review Board procedures and ethical compliance training while leaving few spaces to negotiate potential new considerations of publicly sharing or releasing data, reconsidering digital anonymity, or reacting to a political turmoil (Koning et al., 2019; Tsai et al., 2016). The evolution of qualitative research within the weather community in the last decade (Peek, et al. 2020; NASEM, 2018; Demuth, et al., 2007) is an opportunity to think about the transformation in data management and how we are dealing (or not) with the new challenges posed. This session topic invites researchers of any field who have experienced the ethical limitations and possibilities of data management within their weather-related projects. We welcome ongoing studies, research results, theoretical and methodological discussions, as well as reflections on the disciplinary, geographical, or professional contexts of qualitative research, data management, and ethics. Examples might be varied from experimental work on uses of data and infrastructures, alternative forms of subject protection, ethical protocols across institutions, and critical voices that consider the political dimensions of this issue.