Preparation of Data
In order to collect data, it does not matter whether the Data Custodian or Data Owner has a relationship with the relevant Data Subject, or whether the data and any Personal Information contained within it, was initially processed or obtained from the Data Subject by another entity. However, by collecting any form of Personal Information, the Data Custodian and Data Owner will be bound by The Privacy Act 1988. This means that both the Data Custodian and Data Owner have a responsibility to ensure that the identity of Data Subjects is protected. To do this correctly, a number of Data Protections may need to be carried out to prepare the data for depositing.
Preparation of Data Guidance Notes
1. Apply appropriate Privacy Act 1988 data protections to the data along with any other Data Protections required to de-identify the data.
Applying appropriate protections through de-identification ensures that the material is both safe to upload to the ADA Dataverse and that the Disclosure Risk is minimised.
2. Ensure that the data files are saved in an appropriate file format.
Having the files in one of the ADA preferred formats ensures that the ADA are in a strong position to forward migrate the data in response to any technology advancements and maximises the chances that other users will be able to access and use the data.
3. Ensure that the data files and folders are named correctly.
The correct naming of files and folders ensures that both the ADA Staff and secondary users are able to easily identify the files when accessing the information through Dataverse.
4. Double-Zip any CSV, Stata, SPSS, SAS and Excel data files (or folders containing these files) in preparation for population of the 'Shell Dataverse and Dataset' in Section 4.
There is also some useful information on organising data contained in spreadsheets in the paper here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00031305.2017.1375989, this can be used as best practice for researchers and helps to minimise potential harmonisation downstream.
Notes
Privacy Act 1988: https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2019C00025