How do scientists determine data reusability? A quasi-experiment think-aloud study

Abstract

This poster presents preliminary findings of a quasi-experiment think-aloud study where scientists were presented four canned results of information regarding earth science data in a counter-balanced design. Scientists were asked to think-aloud regarding what information about the data assisted them in their ability to determine reusability of that dataset. Sixteen scientists from various earth science fields participated in the study. Each scientist responded to four canned results, a post-result usefulness survey, a post-search rank-order survey, and a post-search survey. Participants stated that concise data descriptions, attribute and unit lists, as well as research methods steps were particularly important in their ability to determine reusability of data. Participants preferred more robust results over less robust results, and stated that they would rather have too much information than to request the data to find out it actually did not serve their needs.