Reframing Data Excess

Abstract

There is a tendency to conceive of unpublished research material as ‘excess’ data, as research resources that are surplus to requirements. In this chapter, I challenge this view by rethinking and critically reframing how we might make sense of research data that, for whatever reason, does not find its way into public presentation or publication. The position I take in this chapter is that we might conceive of unpublished data as operating in dynamic relation to what is or might be presented or published from it, thus serving as vital contextual curtilage shaping ‘field formation’ (how one understands both the immediate context of a research project and the wider context in which the research project is situated). I develop this argument in three steps. First, I look at grounded theory approaches and ask: how do we amass qualitative research data, and how do we determine how much data is enough data? Second, I then turn to consider (less commonly considered) questions: what are the processes for converting this data into publication, and how do we conceive of data that remains unpublished? Third, I then revisit a large collaborative research project of my own that gathered more data than was ultimately reported on, using this as an opportunity for renewed critical reflection on data sets and the productive possibilities of ‘unused’ research data. In considering these possibilities, I draw from the philosophical ideas of Jacques Derrida and the methodological reflections of science and technology studies scholar John Law.

Citation

Wilken, R. (2024), "Reframing Data Excess", Hendry, N.A. and Richardson, I. (Ed.) Data Excess in Digital Media Research, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 13-24. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80455-944-420241002