Open AccessThe use of scientific data: A content analysis
Author(s) -
Zhang Jian,
Chen Chaomei,
Vogeley Michael S.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
proceedings of the american society for information science and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1550-8390
pISSN - 0044-7870
DOI - 10.1002/meet.14504701319
Subject(s) - scope (computer science) , computer science , data science , data source , information retrieval , programming language
In order to improve our understanding of scientific data users' data usage behaviors, which has been rarely studied in the fourth science paradigm—data‐intensive science, this study conducted a content analysis of publications associated with a frequently cited data‐intensive science project, called Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We analyzed 200 SDSS‐related publications and identified the data used in each publication. Under the scope of SDSS project, we found that (1) nearly half studies used one data source only. A few studies were able to use three or more data sources; (2) studies that analyzed a small number of objects are the norm; (3) users are not only consumers of scientific data. They are also data producers; (4) studies that can utilize multiple large scale data sources are rare.